Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Free Speech Means Kimmel Has the Right to Ridicule You

Everyone’s a critic.

Photographer: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America

Here’s one of those remarkable coincidences: Immediately after the president and first lady called for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be kicked off ABC’s air after he made a cruel joke at their expense, the entirely independent investigators over at the Federal Communications Commission, in an entirely unrelated move, have decided that it was an entirely appropriate moment to launch an early review of the network’s broadcast licenses.

“The move is sure to be seen as retaliatory,” goes one report.