by Corporate America Meets Regulatory Theater
In what historians will remember as either a turning point in broadcast regulation or the stupidest corporate panic since New Coke, Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation represents the moment when Corporate America discovered that comedy can be dangerous not to society, but to quarterly earnings reports.
The great cancellation unfolded with the predictable chaos of a three-ring circus managed by people who’ve never seen a circus. ABC executives, suddenly concerned about regulatory compliance after decades of not caring, decided Kimmel’s brand of comedy posed an existential threat. Not to democracy or discourse, but to their relationship with advertisers who apparently just discovered that late-night hosts sometimes say controversial things.
According to FCC regulatory guidelines, broadcast networks have always operated under content restrictions, but this represents the first time executives pretended to care about them for reasons that conveniently align with political pressure and market concerns. It’s regulation theater all performance, no substance.
The “business deal worth billions” frame is particularly entertaining. Kimmel’s show was worth billions… until suddenly it wasn’t. What changed? Not the content he’s been doing the same jokes for years. What changed was corporate courage, which apparently has a half-life shorter than most radioactive elements.
Corporate America’s relationship with comedy has always been transactional: funny is good until funny becomes expensive. Kimmel crossed that invisible line where entertainment value got outweighed by perceived regulatory risk. It’s simple mathematics subtract controversy, add compliance, divide by cowardice, carry the one, and you get a cancelled show.
In Sanskrit literature, there’s a concept called “???????” (vyangya) satirical comedy that challenges power. Western corporations have decided that satire’s social function is worth less than shareholder comfort, which is certainly a choice. Not a good choice, but definitely a choice.
The regulatory theater aspect is chef’s kiss perfect. Government regulators didn’t actually do anything they just existed threateningly in the background while executives preemptively surrendered. It’s like that scene in movies where the villain doesn’t even need to make demands because everyone just starts complying based on vibes.
ABC’s decision-making process apparently involved extensive spreadsheets calculating the cost-benefit analysis of keeping a comedian who occasionally says things versus the potential cost of regulatory scrutiny. Comedy lost to Excel, which sounds like the title of a very depressing TED Talk about corporate culture.
The billions referenced in the cancellation narrative are fascinating because they represent money that was theoretical all along. Kimmel’s show generated revenue, sure, but the “billions” included projected future earnings, speculative advertising growth, and probably some hopeful thinking about syndication. Corporate accounting is basically fanfiction with more decimal points.
Critics argue this represents censorship; defenders argue it’s just business. Both groups miss the point: it’s neither. It’s cowardice dressed up in corporate language, served with a side of regulatory fear, garnished with quarterly earnings concerns. Kimmel didn’t get censored he got calculated out of existence by people whose job is managing risk, not making comedy.
The real tragedy isn’t that Kimmel lost his show he’ll be fine, he’s got more money than small countries. The tragedy is that corporate America discovered that comedy isn’t worth defending when defending it might affect stock prices. That’s the chilling effect nobody’s talking about: not government censorship, but corporate self-censorship motivated by spreadsheet anxiety.
When comedy becomes a business deal worth billions, it stops being comedy and becomes a commodity. Commodities can be traded, liquidated, or cancelled when market conditions change. Kimmel learned this the hard way. Every other comedian is taking notes.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/great-kimmel-cancellation/
SOURCE: Bohiney.com (https://bohiney.com/great-kimmel-cancellation/)
