A (8:21)
It's just no reason for it. But the Constitution doesn't grade comedy on a curve. It doesn't care about comedy. It's really not about even comedy. It doesn't require jokes to be funny or not funny. It doesn't have anything to do with any of that. Kimmel has the right to say these things, and ABC has the right to air it. Disney has the right to employ him. That's free speech in action. That's clear black and white. Now, let's talk about something separate but connected, the part that everybody forgets. With rights come responsibilities. Just because you can say something doesn't mean you should. And right now, in this moment, after two. Two attempts on the President's life and now a third, some people think that maybe we should act a little more responsible. That responsibility isn't really optional. This wasn't a policy jab. It wasn't the usual late night Trump bashing. This was a visual punchline built around the very real, very, very recent possibility that Melania Trump could actually become a widow. Because the left has decided the only way to stop the man is a bullet. And it's not funny. It's not funny. I would have never made this joke about Barack Obama. Had I made that joke about Barack Obama, I would have expected to be fired. I would have expected it. Why? Because there are standards in our society. This is not the joke that you hear from a professional comedian who understands the difference between the edge and the abyss. And it forces ABC and Disney to answer something out loud. Do you really think this is okay? Want to make it really clear? I'm not asking for Kimmel to be fired. I'm not demanding a cancellation. I hate that. I don't want to, you know, a mob or boycotts or cancel culture. I hate that. I hate it. I hate it when they're doing it against us. I hate when we try to do it against them. However, you do have a personal right to say, I'm never going to Disney again. You know, as much as I love Disney and their $47 bottles of water, I'm just not gonna do it because they don't represent me. You know, Disney used to be something where it was. It had some values. I hate to even say traditional American family values, but that's how it started. I'm not even asking for that. I'm just. Do you have any standards? Do you have any values? And the Trap is the minute we start punishing speech we don't like, we hand the precedent to the other side, and then the cycle just accelerates. Free speech dies by a thousand small enforcement actions dressed up as accountability. So this is a very difficult question to deal with, but standards still matter. Platforms with the reach of ABC and Disney aren't, you know, they're not some kid in the basement posting memes, but even the kids in the basement posting memes, there should be standards that they should keep abc. Disney is a cultural gatekeeper. Like it or not. They are. And they shape what millions consider normal. So when they greenlight a joke that treats an assassination attempt as punchline material after two assassination attempts, and then there's a breach at the actual Correspondent's Dinner, they're not just entertaining an audience. This is something that, you know, if. If Jimmy Kimmel had any standards at all, and ABC did, you don't have to fire him. He would have come up and he wouldn't have said, you know what? I was just talking about the age difference. No, you weren't. And everybody knows it. Stop it. Stop it. Can't you just come out and say, that was really crass of me. It was a mistake. I shouldn't have done it. That. That's what should happen in the, in the, In a world that makes sense. But they're normalizing a climate where the unthinkable gets laughed at first, then shrugged at, and then who knows? This is where personal responsibility kicks in. Free speech protects the right to say the ugly things. Responsibility asks whether saying it makes the country uglier, more divided, more primed for the very violence that we all claim to condemn. You cannot preach to me about how this violence is out of control and then make jokes about violence and killing the President. You can't. You know, this was really understood instinctively. I want to play something. This is. You know, when John Hinckley tried to kill Ronald Reagan back in 1981, they, they canceled the. Or, sorry, they pro. Postponed the Oscars. So he's. He's. They try to kill him. He goes into the hospital. We don't know if he's going to make it or not. It was bad. They cancel or postpone the Oscars for 24 hours. Johnny Carson on the ABC Television network comes out, and this is how he starts. Oscars 1981. Listen, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure that all of you here and most of you watching tonight understand why we delayed this program for 24 hours because of the incredible Events of yesterday, that old adage, the show must go on seemed relatively unimportant. The Academy, ABC Television and all of us connected with the show felt because of the uncertain outcome as of this time yesterday, it would have been inappropriate to stage a celebration. But the news today is very good. As you know, the president is in excellent condition. At last reports, he's been conducting business. Remember, this is Hollywood. They don't like Ronald Reagan, but listen to the applause. And he happens to be in very good spirits. After all, you must remember, this is a man who yesterday, while he was in the hospital, unable to speak, wrote on a sheet of paper, all things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia. So tonight, the show does go on. He goes on. He goes on. And then Ronald Reagan, in a taped message that they had taped a few days before, opens it. It's all very polite now. Did they like Ronald Reagan? No, they hated Ronald Reagan. They hated him. Okay. That nothing has changed. Ronald Reagan was gonna get his all killed. He's gonna start World War 3 or World War 12, whichever one Elon Omar is counting. Um, and it. And. And so they hated him. What they didn't hate at the time was the country. This is not about the President of the United States. This is about the Republic. You shoot the president. Is it good for you? Is it good for me? Is it good for anyone? No. No. An assassination is not good for any. You destabilize the Republic. Is it good? No. But there are those who want to destroy the Republic. And we have to separate ourselves from those people. And Democrats, I'm asking you, listen next hour, because I'm going to make this case very, very clear. But comedians, they'd push boundaries. They knew there were lines you just didn't cross. Not because the government would stop you. I'm. I'm a fan of Lenny Bruce, okay? That guy fought and fought and fought, and he was intentionally indecent because he wanted to show this is freedom of speech. And he fought for freedom of speech. But we are past the point where this is just a joke. Works as an excuse. The Republic is at stake. You know, we passed that line after Butler, Pennsylvania, we passed that line. Florida, the golf course. Now the third attempt. It's just. It's not funny. Words have weight. Platforms have power. And when the temperature in the country is high, pouring gasoline on the fire and calling it comedy is not brave, it's reckless. I defend Kimmel's right to speak. I defend ABC's right to broadcast it. I also defend the rest of America. The audience, the parents, the citizens saying out loud, this a standard we should have. Not because we're fragile, not because, oh, we're going to be triggered. Not because we want to silence dissent, but because we believe this country works best when people who hold the megaphones remember that with great reach comes great responsibility. Freedom of speech is not a suicide pact. It's a trust that we are supposed to govern ourselves. And it's time to start acting it. You know, I said, as if I would have made that joke about Barack Obama. I would have expected to be fired. And the left wanted me fired. They want, they did everything they could. You know, here's the thing. Donald Trump comes out and he says this. Well, at least he's saying it out loud. Barack Obama stayed quiet. And we had 11, 11 different organizations orchestrated by the government, orchestrated by the White House trying to get me kicked off. The number one was Color of Change. That's Van Jones. Van Jones. They did everything they could to get me fired, while the President said, I'm not trying to get you fired. There's no difference. There's no difference. I'd rather have somebody coming out and saying, this is what I believe, than that. The same thing happened with Joe Biden. They were quietly saying, we're not trying to get anybody fired, but they were doing it behind the scenes. That doesn't make it better. And by the way, what I said about Barack Obama was legitimate political speech, not comedy. I was asked, what do you think? What do you think the deal is with, with Barack Obama? Why is he doing these things? And I said, I think he's a racist. No, I'm quoting. No, that's not quite right. I don't know what it is, but he seems to have a deep seated hatred for the white culture or white people. I don't know what it is. Okay. That was me questioning dei. I've, I'd never heard of dei. I don't even know if they named it DEI before then. Okay. But I was pondering and I'm, I was asked a legitimate question and I was answering in a legitimate, legitimately political way. That is the number one reason we have the First Amendment. So you can question the government. And I was a legitimate question. Now, in retrospect, I was absolutely right. It's dei that feels like racism to a lot of people. They tried to punish that. They did everything they could, but they have not a pro. They have no problem doing that. But the minute somebody makes a joke, you can't touch him. More to say on this Again, I want to make it really clear. I am not asking for the firing of Jimmy Kimmel. I do not want anyone to. I will be dead set. If the FCC got involved in this, I would lead the charge against the fcc. That is not the government's responsibility. But the FCC has something and this is works in ABC's favorite, you know, everything in the FCC pretty much is based on community standards. Well, here's the good news, abc, we don't have any standards anymore. My question is, shouldn't we as a people, shouldn't we have some standards? More in a minute. Let me tell you about Relief Factor. 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Ask yourself, are you living with the freedom you deserve from pain? Try the three week quick start now. Reliefactor.com relieffactor.com 800 the number four relief 800 for relief. 10 seconds. Station ID. So when I was in this situation with Jimmy Kimmel, for legitimately questioning how our president was acting, not calling for his death, not joking about his death again, I would have expected to be fired. I would have deserved it, quite honestly. The MSNBC host, that's, you know, Keith Olberman at the time, Rachel Maddow, all of them, Donny Deutsch, they were all calling for an advertiser boycott of my show. Why? Because they knew that was the way to get me fired, cut the money off. So they were organizing boycotts against me. What is the difference? At least let's just be out in the open. You're organizing a boycott, you're pressuring advertisers. I'm saying to you. If you like Jimmy Kimmel, watch Jimmy Kimmel, support Jimmy Kimmel. You don't think this is a standard we should live up to? Continue with your day. If you question, does ABC actually love the country enough to say, hey, this is over the line, maybe you just take action yourself. Like, I don't know, stop going to Disneyland, Disney World, because that's all they really care about. More in a minute. Let me tell you about Legacy Box. One of the strangest things family, you know about family members and memories is the ones that we remember are not the big formal events. They're really not. Sometimes it's the wedding photo or the Christmas card picture. Sometimes it's a five second clip of your dad walking across the yard in bad shorts, your mom laughing at somebody nobody else remembers. You know, one of the things that we've really lost in our pictures is we delete the ones where your sister is cross eyed. Those are important. Don't delete those, don't delete those. Stop looking for the perfect things. You know. And all of those cross eyed moments are sitting in closets and basements and attics and shoe boxes, on old VHS tapes and film reels and photo prints that are getting older, older every day. This is why Legacy Box exists and why it matters. Get them all preserved right now. I want you to go to legacybox.com legacybox.com get all of these things so they can be preserved right now. Legacybox.com records and save 60% Mother's Day. Coming up, Legacybox.com records Glenn AI podcast episodes exclusively for Torch members@glenn beck.com. You know, one of my favorite people is Jennifer. Say, I don't know if you, you know her by her name, but she's the former brand president for Levi Strauss. She's the founder and CEO of XXXY Athletics. She has spoken out, she has taken a stand. You know, I, I've always worn 501s. I've always loved Levi's 501s. And they got away from the cone mill and started making cheap denim. And it's, it's. But the good news is it's five times more expensive. And, and so I started 1791 jeans just as a personal protest. We made the jeans, we made the denim at the cone mills. We made them the quality that should be made by Levi's because they, they came out and they said, we're the uniform of the revolution. Levi's. Can you not try to tear America down? Can you not try to put us into revolution? Anyway, they were going after women. She and girls and girls, sports. I don't remember what it was she said, but got all kinds of pushback. And she's like, okay, no, thank you. And she started her own brand. I think this woman is a real American patriot. I just love her. And one of the things I really love is she doesn't spend her time on hate or anything else. She's just like, I'm just going to do something better. And she started XXXY athletics, and she's with us because she was at the dinner on Saturday. She was. I think she was a guest of Daily Wire, and she had never been before. She. I mean, this is not her deal, and it's her first time there. And Jennifer is here to tell us exactly what happened and what. What she saw and what she felt. Jennifer, welcome to the program. How are you?