Pritzker's astonishing two faces on free speech and Jimmy Kimmel
Hypocrisy unbounded.
Two years ago, when the left was demanding restrictions on “disinformation,” Gov. JB Pritzker said on CNN, “You have a right to free speech, but you don’t have a right to lie.”
He went on: “There ought to be a private right of action for anybody that’s dissuaded or told something that’s false, that’s the important thing. What they say to people, that’s fine, as long as what they’re doing isn’t deceptive. And we have laws against that. It’s fraud in our state and we’re going to prosecute people for that.”
That was in itself preposterous as a general principle and completely at odds with firmly established First Amendment law, as I wrote in detail at the time. People lie all the time, especially politicians, and Pritzker in particular. They can’t be hauled into court except in particular, narrow circumstances like defamation.
But now Pritzker is wrapping himself in the flag of free speech to defend one of the most vile lies in memory told by a public figure. That’s ABC TV show host Jimmy Kimmel’s claim that “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” Nothing could be further from the truth, as has been well established. Kimmel refuses to apologize
ABC then fired Kimmel, saying in a statement, along with its owner, Disney, that “This action follows recent comments made by host Jimmy Kimmel that we believe crossed a line in the context of current events, prompting significant concerns from our station partners and the public.” ABC, as a private company, had every right to do so.
And now Pritzker wants everybody to boycott ABC, Disney and their affiliates such as WGN because Kimmel was fired. “The future of our country is on the line,” Pritzker says. “It’s time to stand up and speak out.”
He even invoked the Holocaust and authoritarian regimes again. “This is the playbook” for that, he said.
Those are the rantings of a crackpot — a crackpot who couldn’t care less about what he has said before.
-Mark Glennon