Growing up, you were probably familiar with the old playground adage 'Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.' It’s a saying that has been drilled into kids for generations; a way to deflect the damage that schoolyard bullies might inflict upon their peers by saying hurtful things.
Perhaps we need to tweak that phrase a little. It’s 2025, and despite the technological advancements that the human race has made over the last century - despite two world wars and innumerable conflicts - it seems that we’re regressing in a multitude of ways. When a multi-billion TV network deems it acceptable to suspend one of the biggest talk shows on television after 22 years on air, all because its host simply exercised his right to free speech by criticising the US President, it can only be seen as a backslide. And although Jimmy Kimmel has since been reinstated by Disney, it makes for uneasy times.
Kimmel's jokes about Trump’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination were deemed "ill-timed and thus insensitive", but the President’s glee at his suspension was palpable as he suggested that other networks who broadcast negative views of him could "lose their licences". It is frightening to consider that freedom of speech and freedom of the media may not always be fundamental tenets of society that we take for granted. As Jon Stewart told an audience (which included Kimmel himself) at the Kennedy Center in 2022 while accepting the Mark Twain Prize, "When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first. It’s just a reminder that democracy is under threat. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to progress."
The establishment has undoubtedly been rattled - and culture, it seems, has become dangerous once again. In a way, this is a good thing. When you have an Irish-language hip-hop band from Belfast making global headlines for calling out the ongoing genocide in Gaza, generating debates in the Houses of Parliament and taking on a social and humanitarian cause with more integrity than your elected public representatives, it speaks volumes.
Sally Rooney 👏👏👏
— Daniel Lambert (@dlLambo) September 20, 2025
"Because of my support for non-violent anti-war protest I'm advised I can no longer enter the UK without facing arrest"pic.twitter.com/oin8hEz0Cx
Irish author Sally Rooney found herself in a similar situation in recent weeks, when she revealed how she could not travel to accept an award in the UK because she has expressed support for banned group Palestine Action. Over 1600 people have been arrested in the UK since the group was banned in July, and the Mayo-born author later told The Guardian: "While I would have liked very much to accept the honour in person, this is far from the gravest consequence of the proscription of a non-violent protest group. Peaceful protesters have already been arrested in unprecedented numbers, and the ramifications for artistic and cultural life are only just beginning."
There is a chilling truth to her words. Kimmel’s stance upon his return to his show on Tuesday, meanwhile, was a necessarily defiant one that noted how Trump had "tried his best to cancel me" to no avail. "This show is not important," he said. "What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this… A government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn't like is anti-American."
Culture has become dangerous again - which is precisely why we need it now, more than ever.
Lauren Murphy is the host of culture podcast Get Around To It
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
