‘Remember the cowards.’ HBO’s John Oliver last night ripped into ABC/Disney for suspending Jimmy Kimmel’s show under government pressure over Kimmel’s monologue about reactionary influencer Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer …
■ … concluding with what HuffPost calls four explosive words.
■ See Oliver’s show here.
■ PolitiFact rates as false Fox News host Sean Hannity’s statement that he couldn’t find a single conservative hoping for Kimmel’s firing—because, well, you know, President Trump did.
■ Columnist Matt Pearce: “If there’s anything … less popular to Americans than a cold-blooded murder in broad daylight, it’s the idea of a nebbish bureaucrat deciding which comedians you aren’t allowed to think are funny.”
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “ABC Hires Kash Patel to Host Late-Night Comedy Show.”
■ Author and tech skeptic Cory Doctorow: “It’s still censorship (even if it doesn’t violate the First Amendment).”
‘Gov. JB Pritzker seems to think so.’ Tribune columnist Paul Sullivan (gift link) wrestles with the question: Should fans who support Kimmel stop watching Cubs and Bears games on TV outlets owned by companies that put the squeeze on ABC to can Kimmel?
■ Popular Information: A “special report” that replaced Kimmel on the TV stations of one of those companies, Sinclair, depicted Kirk as a prophet.
■ A popular post to Reddit: “Nexstar, the broadcasting giant that got Kimmel taken off the air, owns WGN. You know what to do.”
■ Columnist Melissa Ryan: “Oh crap, what are we going to do about Bluey?”
■ Author and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “We have to wait for Ted Cruz—Ted Cruz!— to sound the alarm about the FCC’s attack on freedom of speech?”
■ Musicians Sarah McLachlan and Jewel boycotted a premiere for a new Disney movie.
■ Howard Stern’s canceled Disney+.
‘I hate my opponents.’ That’s Trump at a memorial for Kirk attended by tens of thousands.
■ Trump also used the event to slam Chicago again.
■ Lawyer/columnist Robert Hubbell: “Trump violated the cardinal rule when you are asked to speak at the memorial service for someone who has passed away: It’s not about you.”
■ Kirk’s widow said she forgives his killer.
■ Newser offers four takeaways from the memorial.
■ The Closer to the Edge newsletter is calling out Substack for promoting a “Charlie J Kirk” newsletter that “uses his image, adopts his voice in posts and presents itself as a direct continuation of his persona—all while only quietly noting elsewhere that it is ‘not officially associated.’”
‘Getting tear-gassed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement … just outside of Chicago is not how I planned on spending my Friday night.’ But, as Wonkette’s Dominic Gwinn explains, that’s what happened.
■ Trib and Sun-Times alumnus Mark Jacob lists 10 ways MAGA is not like the Nazis—including No. 4: “ICE routinely wears masks. The Gestapo didn’t.”
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner: “One of the most toxic men in Trump’s inner orbit,” border czar Tom Homan, reportedly took $50,000 in cash from agents posing as business executives.
■ Rolling Stone: ICE is deporting people to Africa on nearly untrackable military flights.
■ The Trib (another gift link, underwritten by those who support Chicago Public Square) documents the disappearance of Chicago’s street vendors as immigration enforcement surges.
‘Truly jaw-dropping. Even in an era where everything is jaw-dropping.’ Law prof Joyce Vance was gobsmacked by a Trump social media post seemingly aimed directly at his attorney general.
■ The Daily Beast: Trump went on “a surreal rant” about babies, horses and vaccines.
Chicago’s ‘gentlest giant.’ Newcity publisher Brian Hieggelke reflects on the life of Bruce Sagan—newspaper champion and cultural angel, dead at 96.
■ Editor & Publisher asks: “If CBS and ABC can be muzzled, what chance do local publishers have?”
■ Paste turns a spotlight on Chicago’s papers—and the slow death of the professional movie review.
■ The One5c environmental newsletter offers “37 genuinely doable, low-effort ways to use less plastic”—including forgoing shiny, plastic-coated giftwrap and using plain old newspaper instead.
‘I get too many emails.’ Chicago Public Square’s lost a few readers—like that one, quoted there—lately. You can help replace them by recommending Square to a friend or three—and stressing that it’s free.