'Not cancel culture': Dave Portnoy reacts to Jimmy Kimmel's show suspension; tags it 'consequences'

Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy weighed in on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel ’s late-night show, offering a sharp take on whether the controversy counts as “cancel culture.”

“With Kimmel getting canned I’m seeing lots of people talking about the hypocrisy of cancel culture ,” Portnoy wrote on X. “To me Cancel culture is when people go out of their way to dig up old tweets, videos etc looking for dirt on somebody they don’t like in an effort to get them fired. Like if Kimmel got canceled for shit he did on The Man Show that would be cancel culture. But when a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that’s not cancel culture. That is consequences for your actions.”

With Kimmel getting canned I’m seeing lots of people talking about the hypocrisy of cancel culture. To me Cancel culture is when people go out of their way to dig up old tweets, videos etc looking for dirt on somebody they don’t like in an effort to get them fired. Like if…

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 18, 2025

ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday, hours after the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) threatened to review the licences of ABC affiliates if the show continued to air. The move followed remarks Kimmel made in his monologues about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel accused “the MAGA gang” of trying to use Kirk’s death for political advantage and mocked Donald Trump’s reaction, saying: “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

The fallout escalated quickly after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested affiliates could face licence revocation if they did not act. Nexstar, which owns more than 20 ABC stations, then announced it would pull the show, with ABC and parent company Disney following suit by suspending the programme nationwide.

President Trump welcomed the decision, calling it “great news for America” and praising ABC “for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.” He also urged rival network NBC to axe Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, branding them “two total losers.”

The suspension sparked criticism from Democrats and free speech groups, who accused the administration of censorship. California governor Gavin Newsom said it was part of a “coordinated” effort to silence critics, while FCC commissioner Anna Gomez condemned the use of government power “to suppress lawful expression.”