I Made Jimmy Kimmel's Cold Open!!

 

In what can only be described by a set of extraordinary circumstances I found myself in Jimmy Kimmel’s cold open last night.  

Last week I watched everything transpire between Disney, Nexstar, Sinclair,  and FCC resulting with ABC pulling Jimmy’s show indefinitely.   

This occurred on Wednesday September 17 when Mercury opposed Saturn which had retrograded back to Pisces.    Oh, Saturn, you really want to go there?   

I have a history of writing late night TV including Letterman and Leno and making political jokes is part of the landscape.    When my friend called to tell me what happened, my hands were wet and messy because I was making dinner for my family.   I asked her to repeat the joke two times as I tried to figure out the cause for the furor and I said, “This is about the set up for the joke?”   “Wow, that is an overreach.”      

Just for clarity The FCC rules for removing a license include indecency and obscenity, commercial content in children’s TV programming and other issues.  The FCC is circumspect about what it can do because the First Amendment, which protects Free Speech, is valued and cherished in America.   Also, the Kimmel show is entertainment programming not news.

When I was working in late night we did Clinton and Bush jokes all the time.   They never tried to pressure the FCC to cancel us.   In fact, in 1999 when I got married my mother-in-law thought I was a Republican because of the Clinton jokes.”

I suspected this was going to grow in furor especially for all the folks who hate cancel culture.   I suspected Libertarians and swing voters would not be digging it.  I wondered about young men of which Jimmy has a large following.   

In the meantime, many people started to unplug from Disney+.   I knew people who sold stocks.   Eff with the 1^st Amendment and people get rattled.   Soon people on the right, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Tucker Carlson, stated their rejection of this move by Disney and the FCC threats which were not veiled by any measure.    

I watched.   I wondered if Disney would make a move and show what I would argue, bravery.   I decided I would give the House of Mouse until Sunday.   Then after the eclipse I would unplug from Disney+.   And so, it was in the evening of September 21 I hit pause on Disney+.   "You pause Jimmy, I pause you." I told some friends what I did and went to bed.  The next morning, on Monday I snail mailed letters to the CEOs of Disney, Sinclair and Nexstar, the FCC chairman and T-Mobile who bought ads on the local Nexstar affiliate in LA (KTLA).   Then I heard from a friend that there would be a protest about a mile and a half from my house at the El Capitan Theater where Jimmy shoots his show.    I made a little sign and walked up to the theater on Hollywood Blvd. grabbing the bus for the last half mile.   

It was a small crowd but a lot of media and I figured my small sign might get some photos.    I had no idea where it would land.  

Last night I was at my monthly astrology meet up when Kimmel was starting to air on the east coast.  I was heading home when a friend said to me, “You made Jimmy’s Cold Open.”   I was shocked.  

I played the clip and practically fell over.  It is only one tenth of a second but wow.   I am sure the ratings were to the roof.  I just checked the YouTube video and it had about 11 million views and growing.   

Yesterday, The Sun in Libra trine Uranus in Gemini and the Sun trine Pluto.   This was the landscape I believe for elevating what is important and what we value.   A lot of people (Aquarius) have spoken, and the 1^st Amendment is clear worth a fight. means is worth fighting for.   

 

There is some astrology that was significant to me personally involving my Venus at 2 Aquarius and my rising at 2 Aries.    But still I didn’t think I would be tied to Jimmy Kimmel for eternity or at least if some historian somewhere in the future looks up this episode to see when the 1^st Amendment was protected on the first full day of Autumn in September 2025.