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CNN’s Abby Phillip said Saturday that liberals need to “actively acknowledge” their role in pushing cancel culture and censorship if they want the nation to move forward.
The “Table for Five” host and her panel discussed ABC’s suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after he made controversial comments regarding Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, which triggered backlash from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and two major broadcast affiliate owners.
Though Phillip criticized Republicans for celebrating despite their push for free speech, she agreed with another panelist who argued liberals have been, by contrast, “too censorious” in the past.
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CNN host Abby Phillip agreed with a panelist that liberals need to acknowledge their parts in cancel culture. (Getty Images)
“I think that’s something more liberals should say,” Phillip said. “I think it would help. They should acknowledge, not just in passing, but actively acknowledge where things went wrong. That’s the only way to move forward, I think, in a way.”
When asked what liberals should admit, Phillip said they must recognize that cancel culture was an issue before Kimmel’s suspension.
“It was actually a thing, and it’s not just enough to say, well, my cancel culture was fine, but yours is wrong,” Phillip said. “There has to be an acknowledgment that, yeah, now I think everybody understands what free speech really looks like and what it means, and then you have to apply that thinking to what was happening four, five, six years ago in this country and say something about it.”
Protesters gather outside the studios where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is produced to demonstrate against the show’s suspension. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
CNN political commentator and former Biden official Ashley Allison disagreed with Phillip, saying that, unlike Republicans, a Democratic president did not attempt to “cancel” somebody.
“Joe Biden wasn’t canceling somebody, Kamala Harris wasn’t canceling. It might’ve been individual citizens, and individual citizens actually have the ability to say, ‘I don’t like it’ and let their dollars, let their viewership, let their subscriptions [decide],” Allison said.
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Some conservative commentators have cautioned against celebrating Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. (iStock)
Liberals and media commentators have attacked ABC and parent company Disney’s decision to suspend Kimmel’s show, claiming that they had capitulated to the Trump administration and its FCC to silence a Trump critic.
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Though some conservative commentators celebrated Kimmel’s suspension, others expressed caution about potential government overreach.