Jimmy Kimmel has been silenced.Not for glorifying violence. Not for mocking tragedy but for telling the truth. ABCs suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! is nothing short of a political execution carried out under the banner of corporate cowardice and wrapped in a sudden gotcha culture that has sinisterly sprung from the murder of Charlie Kirk.This slap at Kimmel is how censorship takes root. Its when a late-night comic delivers a stinging critique. The informant society that is MAGA howls, then Donald Trumps censorship flexes its arm, and a network folds. And networks folding to Trump is now the modus operandi of major media.These signals are unmistakable. Say something sharp about the wrong person, and you will be erased. Or worse than that. You will be destroyed. You will be marked. You will be labeled as someone who extols violence.Kimmel didnt celebrate Charlie Kirks death he, in fact, condemned it last week. The murder was horrific, and it demands sober condemnation. But Kimmels offense was speaking plainly, without any mention of violence. And he gets railed. Punished. Silenced. Censored.Related: Louisiana Republican demands social media companies delete anti-Charlie Kirk posts & ban usersBut what about the falsehoods that exploded in the hours afterward of Kirks shooting? A trans woman enduring hate for being falsely accused of his killing. The grotesque smears that tried to pin the crime on transgender people, who Kirk vehemently attacked. The baseless narrative about trans involvement pushed immediately after the tragedy, for political points. That was cruelty. The New York Post frothed at the mouth with sensational headlines lies, hurtful lies and all of them get to keep on lying.No one is attacking, firing, or punishing anyone who screamed "murderers" at trans people after Kirk died.Kimmels rebuttal was honesty. And yet honesty is what got him yanked off the air. Lies and violent rhetoric fill right-wing media, podcasts, and social media. And nary a word is spoken. And yet, when its from someone who Trump deems dangerous, its an all-out war. This time, at Kimmel, its coming from many fronts.Whats happening here is no accident. The Federal Communications Commission chair signaled his displeasure, Nexstar affiliates lined up behind the outrage, and ABC caved. This isnt accountability. Far, far from it. Its a purge of anyone Trump deems the enemy. When regulators and station groups enforce partisan standards, they become tools of censorship, not guardians of the public interest. The danger isnt subtle. Its systemic, and its going to keep spreading. Just watch whats going on around this country right now with Kirks death.Even the troops have been warned. Reports say service members are being threatened with consequences if they speak out critically about Kirk. Those are the very people who defend our freedoms, and they are now being told to guard their words or risk reprisal. Politico says that the Kirk watch has startled troops, who fear an increasing stranglehold on what theyre allowed to say.If our troops are afraid to practice free speech, God help us.If comedians and soldiers alike are intimidated into silence, then free speech in America is no longer a principle. Its a privilege granted only to those who flatter Donald Trump, who say what he says, believe in what he does, laugh when he laughs, and attack when he says, Stand back and stand by.Weve seen this before, and we were shocked. Stephen Colberts late-night empire was canceled under the flimsy cover of financial restructuring. Right! It was Paramount/CBS that was afraid that the same Trump FCC would nullify its mega-dollar deal. So it put Colberts head on a platter and presented it to King Donald.And ABC already caved to Trump by wrongly setting his suit in December, before he was sworn in, against anchor George Stephanopoulos. It was sickening, and it started the domino effect.Now Kimmel joins him as the next target in a campaign to black out dissent from the airwaves. Each time a network caves, the boundaries of what can be said shrink further, and the cost of speaking out rises higher.The right wing screamed at the left about cancel culture. What a bunch of phonies. This isnt cancel culture, because cancel culture is messy, chaotic, and sometimes cruel, but its organic. Whats happening here is ordered, weaponized, state-endorsed censorship. And the hypocrisy is galling. The same MAGA crowd that screamed about woke mobs now cheers when a critic is silenced. Theyve swapped free speech for enforced speech and are using the guise of civility as a cudgel, and respect for free speech as a bludgeon.This is about more than a late-night show. Its about whether criticism of power remains possible in a country that is rapidly sliding toward authoritarianism.If jokes and monologues are grounds for erasure, then satire dies, dissent dies, and democracy dies. And if America shrugs this off, the last independent voices on our airwaves will soon vanish, leaving only a single, state-approved narrative.And to think this all picked up steam because a right-wing extremist named Charlie Kirk preached free speech. If they truly wanted to honor his memory, then they would immediately stop this madness.Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.