ABC Disney Silences Speech, Again!

Silence isn’t neutrality, it’s surrender. When corporations police speech to protect profits, democracy withers. The question is whether the people will act before it’s too late.

Guest article by Michael Cohen. Follow him on Substack for more by clicking here.

The American people have a right to decide. It’s the most powerful tool we still have in this country. We get to decide what companies we support, which politicians we tolerate, and what kind of country we’re willing to live in. That decision isn’t just about casting a ballot every two or four years. It’s about where we spend our money, which media outlets we trust, and what we allow powerful corporations to get away with.

Right now, Disney and its subsidiaries — ABC, ESPN, Hulu, and the rest — are daring us to look the other way. They’ve made it clear their loyalty is not to the First Amendment, not to the American people, but to their balance sheets. And make no mistake: this latest capitulation was the direct result of presidential pressure. When push comes to shove, profit trumps principle, and the fear of offending the most powerful man in the country dictates what Americans are allowed to see and hear.

The flashpoint this week came after Jimmy Kimmel made biting remarks on his late-night show. He mocked the president’s response to Charlie Kirk’s murder, comparing it to how a child reacts to losing a goldfish rather than how a leader mourns someone he called a friend. It was sharp, uncomfortable, maybe ill-timed. But it was also the kind of satire we’ve come to expect from late-night television: cutting through the façade with humor that exposes a deeper truth.

Within hours, the machine roared to life. ABC announced Kimmel’s show would be “preempted indefinitely.” Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest broadcast affiliates for ABC, echoed the move, replacing his show across its markets. Not because Kimmel was inaccurate. Not because he endangered anyone. Simply because his commentary was inconvenient. Simply because it rattled the president.

That should scare every one of us.

And believe me, I know a thing or two about the First Amendment. I lived through having my constitutional rights trampled on. Remember, I was remanded back to FCI Otisville in the middle of a pandemic because I refused to sign away my right to publish a book critical of Donald Trump. My so-called “crime”? Daring to exercise free speech.

It took the courage of a federal judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, to call it what it was: retaliation. In his ruling, he wrote: “I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory, and is in response to his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights … This cannot stand.”

I became the litmus test. I warned America then: I am the first, but I would not be the last. And sadly, I was right. Because once the precedent is set — that those who speak out against power can be silenced or punished — the message trickles down to every newsroom, every boardroom, every citizen wondering whether it’s worth the risk to open their mouth.

When a corporation can decide that criticizing the president is too risky for their brand, we’re in dangerous territory. It signals that satire, dissent, even mockery, the lifeblood of democratic discourse, can be shut down if it rattles advertisers or makes the wrong people uncomfortable. The Constitution guarantees free speech, but it doesn’t guarantee that corporate America won’t sell that right to the highest bidder.

Now, here’s the uncomfortable truth: this isn’t about Kimmel at all. It’s about power. Disney and its partners are yielding to the president’s relentless pressure, allowing him to shape what can be said, what can be broadcast, and ultimately, what the public is allowed to hear. Their true concern isn’t principle or the First Amendment; it’s self-preservation, shielding profits, and staying on the right side of power. This is not responsibility; it’s compliance dressed as caution, and a warning about how easily corporate fear can silence a nation.

And it works, because they assume we’ll forget. They assume we’ll shrug and say, “That’s just business.” But business has consequences. When companies act as political referees under presidential pressure, they shape the public square to serve their interests, not ours. Every preempted broadcast, every silenced voice, chips away at the freedom we all rely on.

This is why the American people cannot afford to be passive. We don’t have to let Disney or ABC dictate the boundaries of free speech. We don’t have to subsidize companies that cave the moment controversy strikes. We can stop buying their products, cancel our subscriptions, and send a clear message to advertisers: cowardice will not be rewarded. Money is power, and we still hold it.

Yes, one man’s death has inflamed an already divided nation. His killer has been caught and charged, and that chapter of the story will play out in the courts. But the real danger is what happens now — when corporations decide satire is too costly to tolerate, when dissent is too expensive to air. That’s where freedom gets chipped away, not by government decree, but by private boardrooms bending under presidential pressure.

This is bigger than Kimmel. It’s bigger than ABC. It’s even bigger than Disney. It’s about whether we, as Americans, are willing to defend the right to speak uncomfortable truths, to mock our leaders, to push back against the powerful without fear that the plug will be pulled the moment someone in a corner office feels queasy.

We can’t afford to let them win by default. We can’t shrug and say it’s just the way things are. Because once you normalize silence, once you accept censorship as the cost of doing business under presidential pressure, you’ve already lost more than one late-night show; you’ve lost the very spirit of free expression that keeps democracy alive.

The American people have the right to decide. And the question is whether we’ll use them — or surrender them quietly, one distraction at a time, until there’s nothing left but silence where our voices used to be.

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