Hollywood can’t shake its elitism — especially on free speech

Jimmy Kimmel is a free speech warrior and a man of the people — Well, some people.

Earlier this week, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The host criticized new US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen as “unqualified” for some bizarre reason.

“Before his election to the Senate, Markwayne Mullen was a low-level mixed martial arts fighter and plumber.

“That’s right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?”

Mullen, who until last week was an Oklahoma state senator, took over the family plumbing business when his father became ill.

Kimmel couldn’t help himself. He was encouraged after being suspended for a week by ABC last year for incorrectly blaming MAGA for the killing of Charlie Kirk.

This punishment turned the far-left host into a champion of the First Amendment, or so he told anyone who would listen.

Kimmel and his fellow A-listers pledged to protect free speech from the Orange Man Bad. Yet these patriots have repeatedly stepped aside as ordinary Americans, including plumbers, have seen their rights to expression stifled in recent years. — Sometimes the politicians themselves, Kimmel and company, raised money for his re-election.

Take Twitter files. A batch of behind-the-scenes emails showed how the social media giant censored right-leaning opinions and arguments, some of which turned out to be true.

The story of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was also banned at social media giant Facebook, was just one extreme example.

This story could have changed the presidential election.

Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic started in a laboratory? You I cannot always share this opinion On social media.

A federal district court judge called the Twitter files “the largest attack on free speech in the history of the United States.”

How many celebrities protested against censorship in the digital city square?

We have witnessed the rise of “sensitive readers” in the literary world in the wake of the woke revolution. These censors scan the classics of Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie, and Ian Fleming, find “problematic” passages and erase them in order to “protect” future generations.

Imagine the number of budding authors who have watched their words fall down the memory hole because they triggered a hypersensitive reader.

Maybe Tom Hanks was too The only high-profile artist to criticize Wake up wave.

“Let me decide what offends me and what doesn’t. I would be against reading any book from any era that says ‘shortened for modern sensibilities.'”

“American Dirt” author Janine Cummins didn’t have a household name like Stephen King or Joyce Carol Oates. Cummins continues to receive buzz for her 2020 novel, including a shoutout from book guru Oprah Winfrey.

Has the next literary star arrived?

Afterward, critics decided that Cummins was not the right person to write about immigration issues, in part because of her heritage. Death threats followed and she canceled her book publicity tour.

No Hollywood artist stood by her side. Winfrey, who initially praised the novel to the heavens, offered muted support.

Comedians have been fighting speech suppression for years. Sure, we’ve heard about the high-profile attacks on Dave Chappelle for daring to tell trans-themed gags. What about the anonymous stand-ins who lost their jobs for making “wrong” jokes, or never made them in the first place for fear of public retaliation?

And when the Biden administration was arrested Force Google to censor speechthe usual Hollywood suspects looked the other way.

They did the same thing when President Biden promoted Nina Yankovic as a so-called “disinformation czar,” even though she claimed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was just that. Just fake news.

Imagine the voices that would have been censored if they had actually gained power?

Even if we take free speech activism in Hollywood seriously, it is still missing key battles today.

Jewish artists, including musicians, had their events routinely canceled for their views MatisyahuActor/author Brett Gelman and comedian Michael Rapaport.

Conservative comedian Ben Bankas just canceled six sold-out shows in Minneapolis due to progressive pressure and violent threats.

Kimmel’s silence on these matters is particularly disturbing.

When Britain’s Channel 4 invited Kimmel to give an “alternative” Christmas speech late last year, it gave him an opportunity to circumvent the country’s extreme social media sanctions. He could speak out on behalf of ordinary British citizens, those without a bully pulpit by night.

Instead, he attacked President Trump.

Freedom of expression is only for important people, not little people. At least according to Kimmel and his friends.

Christian Toto is the founder HollywoodinToto.com And a host Hollywood in Toto Podcast.

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