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Banners for the Jimmy Kimmel Live television show. [Adobe Stock\/FAMUAN]<\/p>\nBanners for the Jimmy Kimmel Live television show. [Adobe Stock\/FAMUAN]<\/p>\n
The death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u00a0is sparking questions\u00a0about the line between protected speech, hate speech and institutional policies\u2014a conversation that has spread to\u00a0college campuses,\u00a0workplaces\u00a0and even late-night television.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Kirk\u2019s passing, several students and employees across the country faced disciplinary action for comments made online, with some losing jobs or being expelled from universities.\u00a0People in support of those punished\u00a0say that their words, while controversial, fall under the umbrella of free speech, while critics\u00a0argue those comments cross into disrespect and harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The issue escalated beyond campuses when late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended from\u00a0ABC\u00a0due\u00a0to\u00a0his\u00a0remarks\u00a0on Kirk\u2019s death\u00a0during his show\u00a0on\u00a0Sept. 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,\u201d\u00a0Kimmel said\u00a0on\u00a0his show\u00a0<\/p>\n
The backlash was immediate. President Donald Trump weighed in. \u201cHe has no talent, and he\u2019s got no ratings.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Disney and its\u00a0sister\u00a0companies\u00a0came under fire for the suspension, and more than 400 celebrities signed an open letter condemning the decision. By Sept.\u00a023, Kimmel was reinstated, and in his return monologue, he reflected on the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis show is not important,\u201d Kimmel said\u00a0on-air. \u201cWhat is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At Florida A&M University, students are\u00a0considering what free speech looks like on their own campus. Lovely\u00a0Eveque, a senior public relations\u00a0student, said she believes her HBCU community is open to a range of views.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone\u2019s viewpoints are considered, that we all have open minds and we\u2019re not here to think less of anyone because of their viewpoints,\u201d she\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still,\u00a0she thinks\u00a0giving\u00a0a platform to controversial outside speakers could harm the university\u2019s reputation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not think\u00a0those type of figures\u00a0should be allowed because it can shine a bad light on the university if it doesn\u2019t align with the school\u2019s mission,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bryant Green, a fourth-year\u00a0broadcast\u00a0journalism\u00a0student, was more skeptical about equal treatment\u00a0of\u00a0political perspectives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOn our campus, no. I feel like we have more of a left-leaning campus,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you go into a classroom and say something that\u2019s very conservative, you are going to get a\u00a0lot\u00a0different feedback than someone that\u2019s very\u00a0liberal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still,\u00a0Green\u00a0supports allowing controversial figures to\u00a0speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s part of freedom of speech,\u201d Green\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cI feel like we have a student body\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0mature enough and educated enough to be able to take in information and not let it affect them negatively.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Graduating senior\u00a0Nykerica\u00a0Thrower said she feels students\u00a0generally have\u00a0the space to speak freely but\u00a0does not\u00a0think controversial speakers should be given the microphone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t agree with the university\u2019s morals or ethics, that can go left really fast,\u201d she\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked about the expulsions and firings connected to comments about Kirk\u2019s death, all three students said they saw it as an overreach.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t agree with people being taken away from a university that they pay to get educated nor do I think a job should be stripped away for making comments about someone\u2019s death,\u201d\u00a0Eveque\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s actually very frightening in the political climate that we\u2019re in that we can\u2019t make comments without fear of being taken out of school.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Green pointed to examples at Texas State University, where a student was expelled after protesting Kirk\u2019s memorial.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was doing a bit much, but that\u2019s still part of free speech,\u201d Green said.\u00a0\u201cThere were kids writing on the memorial, there\u00a0was vandalism, but I feel like\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a part of free speech. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think there should be repercussions for expressing how you feel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thrower\u00a0echoed those concerns, questioning whether universities are truly upholding freedom of expression. \u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think it was justified. If we\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0have our own opinion, isn\u2019t that more of a dictatorship than freedom of speech?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each of the students agreed that the lines between free speech, hate speech and campus policy are often unclear.\u00a0Green added that social media makes it even harder to draw distinctions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with all of the avenues we can use to profess our thoughts, a\u00a0lot of it gets\u00a0misconstrued and taken the wrong way depending on the platform,\u201d Green said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Banners for the Jimmy Kimmel Live television show. [Adobe Stock\/FAMUAN] The death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u00a0is sparking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-13299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}