I’ve watched the Jimmy Kimmel joke where they claim he made fun of the assassination of Charlie Kirk numerous times, and I can’t find where he made fun of him or his murder. I can see where he made fun of the president. And I can see where he commented on MAGA. But I can’t see where he said anything disparaging about Mr. Kirk or celebrated his death.

But that fact doesn’t matter. What matters is what people THINK Jimmy Kimmel said vs what he ACTUALLY said.

I know something about this because I was once attacked for a misrepresentation of something I said on the air years ago.

The year was 2006, and I was doing a talk show on KFAB. North Omaha was having a problem with violence. Some in the community wanted to improve their image, so they bought a couple of billboards that said, “Discover North Omaha.”

Well, I felt that it was going to take more than a billboard to improve the image, so I put together a parody to say so.

The parody pulled no punches. I talked about the violence in a satirical way. The war in Iraq was still in the news, and the final tag line was “Discover North Omaha, it’s safer than Baghdad.”

The parody ran two or three times with no controversy. Then one afternoon, the phones at the station started ringing off the hook with people angry and upset with the parody. One person didn’t like it, so he sent out an email blast to tell people that I had made a racist parody attacking the African American community.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I made no mention of race. There were no racial overtones or accusations of what race was causing the violence. My only focus of the parody was that a billboard wouldn’t improve the image of the neighborhood until the violence was under control.

Many people were mad about the parody without ever hearing it or considering the message behind it. They were just told to be angry, and they were. The mayor called my boss into his office to get her to fire me. She stood by me and walked out on him.

City Councilman Frank Brown had the council vote on a nonbinding resolution condemning me and saying I should apologize. Some North Omaha residents attended the public hearing and told the council they may not like the way I said it, but I spoke the truth.

I’m happy to say that over the years, North Omaha has cleaned up many of its problems and is seeing a revitalization. I hope the attention I brought to it in some small way helped accelerate that progress.

Jimmy Kimmel spoke the truth. Even if some people didn’t like the way he said it.

If ABC suspended or cancelled Kimmel on their own for what he said, I would have no problem with it. Every employer has that right. But that’s not what is going on. ABC suspended Kimmel under pressure from the FCC and the President.

That’s the stuff of dictators.

Comedians have always spoken truth to power. Late-night comics from Carson to Kimmel have poked fun at every president, but this is the first time a president has taken actions to stop their right to do so.

Last Sunday, I switched back and forth between the Cleveland Browns game and the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. I was curious what tone the service would take. Would it be a ceremony of Charlie’s life, or would it be more like a typical Trump rally?

Most people were respectful and shared their memories. I heard one speaker attack RINOs, and Stephen Miller gave a fiery attack on enemies of MAGA. Even Trump, for the most part, was rather subdued, although he made a point of saying he was different than Charlie because, unlike Kirk, Trump hates his enemies.

Trump is also different than Charlie in that Charlie wasn’t afraid to confront his detractors. Trump is terrified to confront his. Instead of proving his detractors wrong, he pressures corporations to silence them. Colbert, Kimmel, 60 Minutes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Fallon, Meyers, and the Des Moines Register are just some who have felt his wrath. Others fear he might go after them, so they remain silent.

Twenty years ago, my boss stood up to the mayor for my right to free speech. Corporations need to stand up to the president and do the same.

Charlie would have wanted it that way.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.