Hollywood was thrown into chaos after news broke that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” had been suspended “indefinitely.” While many celebrities expressed outrage and defended the late-night host, actor James Woods offered a very different perspective.
Woods drew attention to what he saw as hypocrisy surrounding cancel culture. He referenced the time when Twitter’s Jack Dorsey banned President Donald Trump from the platform during an election cycle. “Remember when Twitter’s Jack Dorsey banned the President of the United States from the world’s biggest forum during an election? Screw Jimmy Kimmel,” Woods wrote online.
To drive his point home, Woods linked to a 2023 Rolling Stone article titled “Why Cancel Culture is Good for Democracy” by Ernest Owens. In the piece, Owens defended cancel culture as a tool that “leveled the playing field for those who can’t always rely on the government to protect them.” He even described it as a “poison to those in power” who benefited from “unchecked free speech,” specifically targeting “straight, white men” as those who held cultural dominance.
Woods used the article to highlight how the rules liberals once championed are now working against them. He argued that those who once embraced accountability through cancel culture now reject it when they’re the ones facing consequences. “Those who fear cancel culture may claim they fear suppression of speech, but it’s accountability that they want to avoid,” Owens wrote in defense of the practice.
Other conservatives were quick to back up Woods’ claims by pointing to past examples. Clay Travis reminded followers that Roseanne Barr was fired by Disney for a single joke on Twitter, despite her show being the top-rated on television. Gina Carano was dropped from a blockbuster streaming series for a social media post. Megyn Kelly also faced career fallout after voicing her opinions. At the time, many on the Left cheered these firings.
Now, critics argue that Kimmel’s comments went far beyond what conservatives were punished for. The host claimed that Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a “MAGA supporter.” Investigators, however, say the 22-year-old man arrested in the killing was steeped in leftist ideology and motivated by his disdain for Kirk’s conservative beliefs.
Kimmel’s remarks triggered an immediate backlash. Sinclair Broadcasting, one of the nation’s largest media companies, announced it would suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live” until further notice. To conservatives like Woods, it marked a rare instance of Hollywood’s own rules being applied evenly — and a reminder that cancel culture cuts both ways.