ABC announced Wednesday evening that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air “indefinitely” following a backlash from conservatives who accused the longtime host of inaccurately describing the politics of the person accused of fatally shooting right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
If that sounds like a roundabout reason for Kimmel to have his entire show pulled, it’s probably because it appears to have had less to do with what he said and more to do with the fact that President Donald Trump has openly said he wants to get rid of late-night hosts like Kimmel and found his loophole (He signaled that NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers are next in his social media celebration about Kimmel).
Regardless of the reasons for the decision, which came hours after Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr suggested they might take action against ABC because of remarks Kimmel made on Monday’s telecast, the reactions were swift, intense, and partisan.
Barstool founder and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff personality Dave Portnoy had a fascinating reaction to the news. As many noted the irony that Trump and his administration were getting Kimmel “canceled,” Portnoy offered a clarification that seemed to move the goalposts on the nebulous term.
With Kimmel getting canned I’m seeing lots of people talking about the hypocrisy of cancel culture. To me Cancel culture is when people go out of their way to dig up old tweets, videos etc looking for dirt on somebody they don’t like in an effort to get them fired. Like if…
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 18, 2025
“With Kimmel getting canned I’m seeing lots of people talking about the hypocrisy of cancel culture,” wrote Portnoy on X. “To me Cancel culture is when people go out of their way to dig up old tweets, videos etc looking for dirt on somebody they don’t like in an effort to get them fired. Like if Kimmel got canceled for shit he did on the Man Show that would be cancel culture. But when a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that’s not cancel culture. That is consequences for your actions.”
Portnoy’s admission inadvertently underlines what has always made “cancel culture” so frustrating. Rarely has there been an agreed-upon definition for what it means. Instead, it is often deployed to represent whatever the specifics of a firing or backlash might be, to drum up support for the person who made the inciting comment or action.
It’s true that “cancel culture” has been blamed for instances where old comments or social media posts were used against someone. However, there have been many other instances where that term has been used as a defense as well, some of which were very similar situations to Kimmel’s.
In that way, the term “cancel culture” acts similarly to “woke,” “DEI,” and “political correctness.” They are stripped of any initial meaning so that they can be interpreted to mean whatever one wants them to.
All of which is to say that Portnoy took some serious flak for the comments on social media.
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Portnoy is missing the point here. If ABC, as Kimmel’s employer, had an issue with what he said, that’s one thing—but Trump and the FCC threatened to revoke their license if they didn’t suspend him. That’s what I’m upset about. It’s an abuse of power, and if it happened to a… https://t.co/tkxTPqWHYf
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) September 18, 2025
Lol, Dave Portnoy is really starting to show his true colors. I don’t give a shit about Jimmy Kimmel but it was free speech.
Sorry. It’s free speech until it’s not the free speech that I like! https://t.co/borWPFSg4d
— William (@SelfHighFive181) September 18, 2025
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it’s very funny to make a distinction between cancel culture and what this is, which is clear government supression of speech. cancel culture isn’t anti first amendment, but this specifically is! which is worse!
— onion person (@junlper.beer) September 17, 2025 at 6:20 PM
https://t.co/4Bz2f5Nuf2 pic.twitter.com/7ecBtGzMwk
— santos-inistas (@JDabknee) September 18, 2025
Thursday is sure to be a delightful day on social media, so we’ll see where this conversation goes. One thing we do know is that if there’s anyone in sports media who should be a defender of speech and an enemy of having one’s job or financial well-being threatened over the things they say or do, we’d imagine it should be Dave Portnoy.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.