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Trump Administration Targets NYC Magnet School Funding Over Transgender Bathroom Policy

Mary Alice Miller
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Trump Administration Targets NYC Magnet School Funding Over Transgender Bathroom Policy

By Mary Alice Miller
New York City magnet schools are the latest target of the Trump administration over transgender issues. The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to New York City, Chicago, and Fairfax Public Schools, Virginia notifying them that discretionary grants under the Magnet School Assistance Program are at risk unless those school systems become compliant with Title IX.

Enacted in 1972, Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school, university, or any other education program or activity that receives federal funding. The law prohibits sexual harassment, sexual violence, dating violence, stalking, and other sex-based misconduct that creates a hostile environment.
It also prohibits retaliation against any person who brings or participates in any complaint action such as discrimination or harassment under Title IX.


Athletic equality requirements under Title IX require schools make efforts to expand opportunities for females to participate in school sports proportional to male participation.
Exempt from Title IX are membership practices of YMCA, YWCA, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls.
At risk for non-compliance with the Title IX directive is millions of dollars in federal funding, specifically $15 million for New York City and a total of $67 million for all three school districts.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams had expressed agreement with sex-based school facilities and sports one day before the Office for Civil Rights letter was sent.
“We’re going so far away from common sense,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference. “My utmost importance is to ensure that when my children are in school, they’re in a safe environment. And I do not believe a safe environment is allowing boys and girls to use the same facility at the same time.”

Adams said he will look at his “authority and power to change that,” adding, “We have become so politically correct that we are incorrect.”
Democratic mayoral candidate Mamdani responded on X, “Awful and dangerous to hear the Mayor echo the transphobic bigotry coming from the Trump administration.”
New York State Education Department spokesperson JP O’Hare wrote in a statement, “Under the State Human Rights Law, transgender and gender expansive students are entitled to use the restroom or locker room that aligns with their gender identity.”

NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman responded to Adams position in a written statement that said, “Let’s be clear: the mayor has no authority to ban trans students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity. Such a move would be illegal under New York State and New York City laws and an affront to our shared values.”

“Students are going to school to learn,” Executive Director of NEW Pride Agenda Kei Williams, said. “Having to mandate that you’re able to utilize the restroom of your gender identity, of your gender expression is the least that you can do. That is the floor.”
Williams called the Trump administration’s stance on transgender school policy “extremely reckless, callous and hateful rhetoric.”

New York City Department of Education requires that schools allow students to access bathrooms and the opportunity to compete in sports teams, among other activities, that correspond with the students’ gender identities.

The letter from the Office for Civil Rights noted that “Title IX’s commitment to sex-separated intimate facilities and athletics is based on immutable biological differences, well-established privacy interests, and ensuring the safety of all students when in enclosed and vulnerable spaces and engaged in the competitive, physical activity of sports.

This is not only permissible and advisable but often necessary to ensure equal opportunities for girls and women and prevent a hostile educational environment.”

The letter went on to state that “When recipients of Federal funding require schools to treat ‘Trans-identifying’ males as if they are ‘females’, including in intimate traditionally sex-separate facilities, they defeat the very purpose of Title IX: to ensure equal opportunities for women while not jeopardizing their privacy, safety or other rights.

Simply put, allowing males in girls’ sports, intimate facilities, or private spaces, such as with overnight sleeping accommodations or vice versa, violates Title IX by creating a hostile educational environment or denying females and males equal access to benefits of education programs or activities.”
The letter focused on Chicago Public Schools, but New York City and Fairfax Public Schools also received the letter regarding transgender policies.

The Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig W. Trainor wrote in the letter that he “will not certify” Chicago Public Schools grant and CPS’ MSAP grant “will be non-continued because it is no longer in the best interest of the Federal Government.”
In order to comply with the law, the Office for Civil Rights requires that Chicago Public Schools

-Adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX.

-Issue a public statement to parents, students, and staff stating that CPS will comply with Title IX and specifying that it will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs or occupy intimate facilities designated for females.

-Specify that CPS must provide sleeping arrangements during overnight activities ad athletic trips to its students strictly separated on the basis of sex and comparably provided to each sex.
-Specify that CPS must provide intimate facilities such as locker rooms and bathrooms accessible to students strictly separated on the basis of sex and comparably provided to each sex.

-Specify that Title IX forbids schools from allowing boys or men to participate in any athletic program designated for girls or women, ensuring that only female students are eligible to join, participate, or be categorized or counted as a member of Girls’ Team(s)/Category(s) and that all male students are ineligible to join, participate, or be categorized or counted as a member of Girls’ Team(s)/Category(s); and

-Rescind any guidance that violates Title IX, remove or revise any internal and public-facing statements or documents that are inconsistent with Title IX, and notify all parents, students, and staff of such rescissions and revisions.

In May 2021, a 14-year-old trans-identifying boy sexually assaulted a girl student in a locker room at Stone Bridge High School, Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia. The girl’s father, seeking redress for his daughter, was arrested at a school board meeting in what was thought to be an attempt to cover up the transgender student’s crime.

The transgender student was transferred to another school where he sexually assaulted another girl student in October of that year. The male student was found guilty in juvenile court of two counts of sexual assault for the attacks at both schools in 2022. The father was later pardoned. The family of the first victim filed a $30 million lawsuit against LCPS for its failure to protect the student and its mishandling of the case.

In September 2025, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights found the Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX by retaliating against two male students who complained after a biological female who identified as male recorded audio and video of two boys in the Stone Bridge High School locker room.

Mamdani’s Mayoral Maneuvers -Black Dem Bigs line up behind the NYC nominee

Editor, Our Time Press
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Mamdani’s Mayoral Maneuvers -Black Dem Bigs line up behind the NYC nominee

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large

“I support the Democrat in the race,” said former Vice President Kamala Harris, of NYC Mayoral frontrunner Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
In a somewhat lukewarm endorsement, not dissimilar to what she herself endured from some party faithful leadership during her 2024 presidential run, speaking on MSNBC on Monday, Harris stated, “As far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported.”

She added though, that the flex was limited, “I hope that we don’t so over index on New York City that we lose sight of the stars throughout our country, who are right now running for mayor and many other offices.”

Speaking in the cable station’s Manhattan studio, Harris proclaimed, “He’s not the only star. He’s in New York, and I know New Yorkers think they’re the center of the world … There are people like Barbara Drummond in Mobile, Alabama. Helena Moreno in New Orleans. They’re all running for mayor, too, and they are stars.”

Following Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, last week Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins both backed Mamdani.

Clarke, who represents New York’s 9th congressional district, over much of Central Brooklyn, heartily gave Mamdani the nod. The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus praised him saying, “Assemblyman Mamdani’s historic primary victory in June proved the effectiveness of a people-powered campaign, that centers the issues that matter to most New Yorkers: lowering the cost of living, making the billionaire class pay their share and securing equity for all communities.”

Congress member Yvette Clarke, leader of the Black Caucus, endorsed Mamdani. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)


Thankful, Mamdani hailed, “Our agenda is an ambitious agenda, no question about it, but it’s an agenda that looks to match the scale of the crisis.”
The candidate faces criticism however, that he has not responded to the grassroots Black community, that he has not engaged in prolonged conversations to learn about their particular issues, requests and general concerns.

Mamdani, 33, has been berated by determined critics for surrounding himself with mostly white politically inexperienced 20 and 30-somethings, and energetic Gen Zers. He sees it as tapping into a vocal, but ignored young vote.

Comfortably dancing in Black parades, and glad-handing in Black churches and at Black events such as this past weekend’s African American Day Parade, notwithstanding Ugandan-born Mamdani faces a persistent charge, that he has not held meaningful meetings with every-day Black community members, from that population–to discuss on-the-ground-topics from ramped-up gentrification, quality-of-life policing, the spectre of crime, to youth under and unemployment.

“As the Assembly Member for the 56th District, I believe endorsements must be grounded in accountability and vision,” Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman told Our Time Press. “I approach endorsements thoughtfully and consider each candidate after meaningful discussions about the progress and future of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. Our community deserves leaders who listen, collaborate, and remain committed to advancing equity and opportunity.”

The local landscape has community political observers torn between being ardent loyalists, cautious-go-with-what-you-know moderates, and excited idealists. Five recent polls have Mamdani leading by 20%, with Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa following, with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams at a steady 9%.

Meanwhile, neither Brooklyn’s House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries nor Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have yet endorsed their party’s nominee. This past weekend Jeffries said, “I’ll have more to say about the Mayor’s race sometime soon.”
City & State described Adams, 65, as a “Conservative, pro-business Democrat who is now running as an independent candidate. More likely to criticize progressives than the Trump administration.”

Denied campaign finance matching funds 11 times, Adams blamed not the political residue from Trump squashing of his 5 federal indictments, but his opponents spreading rumors–as preventing him from raising money for his campaign.

Zohran
Mamdani



While a non-attendee at any public events this past weekend, even despite the 56th African American Day Parade being held in Harlem on Sunday, Adams has dismissed widespread speculation that he is indeed abandoning his bid for a second term. “I am in this race, and I am the only one that can beat Mamdani,” he said previously.

The city electorate is watching the 2026 mayoral contenders bicker, name call and scramble feverishly for the spotlight, political point scoring and policy claiming. Mamdani opponents have warned that a four man race is splitting the vote, and somebody, anybody, in the immediate for-seeable needs to put their ego away, and drop out of the race for the good of the city. And City Hall. They all said they would not.

However, even Trump has acknowledged that the Democratic nominee with his 20-point lead, will probably be who he called “My little communist mayor.”
Mamdani is running on his affordability campaign, addressing more income-related housing, free fares and city-owned grocery stores. He also said that he would be apologizing to police in private for calling them out as racist back in 2020.

Then, two weeks ago a Texas man was arraigned on a 22-count indictment in Queens Criminal Court. His anti-Muslim hate crime charges against Mamdani included four counts of making terroristic threats.


Unusual for a candidate, Mamdani now has a police detail. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, “As alleged, the defendant threatened an elected official by leaving a series of increasingly alarming anti-Muslim messages with the office of Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. The defendant told the assemblyman to go back to Uganda before someone shoots him in the head, to keep an eye on his house and family, to watch his back every second until he leaves America, and that he and his relatives deserve to die.”

“We are thankful for the security measures in place for both the Assembly Office and the campaign, and we want to reassure the community that Zohran and the team are safe,” said his campaign.

“There’s almost a level of irony to this,” Adams stated. “Here you have a person who has spent his life bashing the NYPD.” He continued, “There’s something ironic about a person who calls for protection for his life, but don’t understand why we don’t want to defund and disband our police department.”

Back on Main Street, NYC, there is a perception by some political observers that the Democratic Party cannot get out of their own way, and this mayoral election is exposing the divided underbelly over Mamdani’s nomination, in the run-up to the November 4th, 2025, mayoral election. This division, talking heads speculate, may be the disconnect which decides whether or not folk go to the polls. Or, paradoxically, drive them to it.

But, leaning into his famed movie, Brooklyn’s Spike Lee encouraged, “Do Da Right Thang On Nueva York Election Day November 4th, 2025. You already know who I’m casting my ballot for da man with da plan, My Brother–Mr. Zohran Mamdani.

A Brooklyn political operative told Our Time Press, “The Black community must form an effective political powerhouse. We should show candidates that they do not get our support without a detailed agenda being addressed. We can have an alliance, but only with a mutual understanding of what our communities need, and planned pathways to achieving those goals. We have demands which must be articulated and met.”

Ayesha Williams: The Laundromat Project Creatively Creates Change

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Ayesha Williams: The Laundromat Project Creatively Creates Change

Fern Gillespie
When the arts nonprofit, the Laundromat Project, was launched 20 years ago, it was at an intimate performance space in Harlem where people of all walks of life gathered—the neighborhood laundromat.

“In the early days, we did projects in laundromats or adjacent to laundromats as a way of being in a space where folks naturally came and connected with their neighbors and community members,” Ayesha Williams, Executive Director of the Laundromat Project, told Our Time Press. “Everybody has to do their laundry.

There are laundromats on almost every corner. So, it was it was an active space for engagement and connection. Folks come together in dialogue with one another. That’s what started us doing things in laundromats.”

In 2020, the Laundromat Project moved to a permanent storefront in Bed Stuy. It became the primary space for gathering and convening. However, new creative spaces still became unique performance sites like pop-up projects in Bed Stuy, Harlem and the South Bronx. “We’ve moved away from doing programs and laundromats a couple of years ago,” she said.

“We expanded to public spaces where folks are with one another like gardens and community spaces, even sidewalks on blocks. Anywhere where folks might naturally cross paths with one another, is a space where our artists are active.”

Ayesha Williams, Executive Director of the Laundromat Project


Through grants and special projects, the Laundromat Project’s mission is to advance artists and neighbors as change agents in their own communities. “We see arts and culture at a catalyzing force to bring folks together to drive action in the community. The Create Change Fellowship is essentially an artist development training program.

It is creative artists and producers of all disciplines–visual arts, theater, photographers, actors, writers. It’s any kind of artistic medium that folks are engaged in,” Williams said. “If they want to get a better understanding of how to take their creative practice and use it as a force, folks can learn various strategies and tools to better understand how they can leverage their creative practices to engage within their communities.”

Since 2011, over 300 creatives have been involved with the Create Change Fellowship and the Create Change Artist-in-Residence. The Laundromat Project Create Change program awards multicultural artists, critical thinkers, and cultural leaders a $1,000 to $25,000 fund. This includes professional development, critical mentorship, and peer-based support to develop and realize artistic projects in neighborhoods across New York City.

This year, Create Change Fellows presented special arts and advocacy projects for community partners: BLIS Collective (Black Liberation-Indigenous Sovereignty, One Brooklyn Health, Magnolia Tree Earth Center and GrowHouse Design + Development. For the Create Change Artists-in-Residence, the artists and projects included: Briana Calderón Navarro, a Community Fridge Restoration Tour; Keshad Adeniyi, healing artwork inspired by youth demographics; Leslie Mejia, a Bronx wellness and healing playground; photographers Russell Frederick & Dahkil Hausif focused on Bed Stuy with “Dark Room Diaspora: Giving Old Images A New (A.I.) Life and Zakiya Collier created the exhibition “Collective Remembrance: For the Art of Preserving Bed-Stuy Restoration History.”

Each summer, the Laundromat Project distributes small grants to Bed Stuy block associations for financial assistance. This summer, the Laundromat Project had resource tables and a partnership with One Brooklyn Health for healthcare outreach and screenings. “It’s a way to celebrate block party culture within Bed Stuy,” said Williams. “It’s the opportunity for neighbors to get to know one another more deeply or to just be in celebration over the summer months. It’s one of my favorite programs.”


The Laundromat Project is a Black, multiracial and multi-generational cultural organization that is citywide. “The age of folks who come through our program are little babies all the way to our highly regarded elders. It’s a beautiful to just watch dialogue and exchange multi-generationally across ages and across experiences,” she said.

“It’s important transferring and translating knowledge and information across generations. It’s critical to have spaces where conversation and dialogue can happen for a greater understanding about our roots and our history.”

For the 20th anniversary, the Laundromat Project is holding a year-long celebration through August 2026. “The Laundromat Project is centered in the experiences of people of color. It informs us of our work. We’re founded by a Black woman. Even the citywide work that we do is predominantly focused in communities of color,” said Williams.

In September, the Schomburg hosted a special presentation on the impact of the Laundromat Project that featured Williams and founder Risë Wilson, the visionary who took community performance arts directly into laundromats in the city’s Black neighborhoods.

“I think through a lot of our programming and projects that our artists develop and activate, conversations that are sparked in those moments and then go on to impact even greater change in the neighborhoods in their communities,” she said.

Williams’ career has focused on the arts. She holds a master’s degree in visual arts administration from NYU and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining the Laundromat Project nine years ago, she was Visual Arts Manager at Lincoln Center and an art gallery director.

“I’m from New Orleans originally, which is a mecca of arts and culture. So, arts and culture have always been a part of my life. My father is a painter, sculptor, and photographer,” she said. “Growing up, I went to museums on a regular basis. I would go to concerts. Jazz music was playing every moment of every single day. In my house, I was constantly surrounded and inundated by all things arts and creativity.”

For Williams, being a part of the Bed Stuy creative community is pivotal to the Laundromat Project. “It’s just incredible being a part of the Bed Stuy cultural community. To uplift and highlight about how incredible the culture community in Bed Stuy is,” she said. “I think of Bed Stuy as the cultural capital. I think arts and culture is Bed Stuy.”

Harlem’s Own Holcombe Rucker Park Officially Designated as a National Historic Commemorative Site

Editor, Our Time Press
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Harlem’s Own Holcombe Rucker Park Officially Designated as a National Historic Commemorative Site

The rain fell in steady sheets on Sunday, but it couldn’t dampen the celebratory spirit. The planned dedication ceremony for Holcombe Rucker Park, a site known for its legendary sun-drenched showdowns, was forced indoors.

Yet, as the crowd gathered at the Children’s Aid Society’s Dunlevy Milbank Center, where the Rucker Pro Legend league holds its indoor tournaments, a sense of history was in the air. A century in the making, a new chapter was being written for Harlem, for basketball, and for African American culture.

The occasion was the official designation of Holcombe Rucker Park as a National Commemorative Site—a landmark achievement spearheaded by U.S. Congressman Adriano Espaillat, supported by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, The National Park Service and graciously executed by The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (GHCC).

This was more than a plaque on a wall; it was the first time in over 100 years that a site in Harlem above 110th Street had been recognized as a historic landmark, and one of the first sites in the nation to be federally enshrined for its global celebration of urban basketball culture.

Congressman Adriano Espaillat, Fred Crawford (co-Founder of The Rucker Pro League), and Bobby Hunter (Former Harlem Globetrotter – first from Harlem


The morning had begun with a Legends Breakfast at the Renaissance New York Harlem Hotel, a gathering of giants who had walked the sacred asphalt of Rucker. The Rucker and Marius families were honored, alongside legendary Harlem Globetrotter Bobby Hunter.

In attendance were basketball notables: Freddie Crawford, Gail Marquise, Tom Hoover, Rob Strickland, and Nancy Lieberman who accredited The Holcombe Rucker League for fully “embracing, supporting, loving and encouraging an awkward girl from Brooklyn.”

The main event was the dedication itself, held during halftime of a fast-paced girls’ middle school game between the New York City and Boston All-Stars. The roar of the crowd, the squeak of sneakers on the polished floor, the electric energy of the game—it was the perfect backdrop for a moment of such significance.

On center stage, surrounded by a new generation of ballplayers, stood Congressman Espaillat, Senator Schumer, NYC Parks & Recreation Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, NY Knick Miles “Deuce” McBride and others, officially dedicating a site that has launched careers and defined a culture.

Among those honored were Rucker legends Nancy Lieberman, Gail Marquis, Freddie Crawford, and Bob McCullough, along with DJ Red Alert and Sandman Sims who was honored posthumously. Their presence served as a powerful reminder that the story of Rucker Park is not just about basketball, but about the community it fostered, the lives it changed, and the individuals it uplifted.

“We are excited for the first time in over a century that Upper Manhattan has a new, federally enshrined commemorative site,” said Voza Rivers, co-founder of HARLEM WEEK and a driving force behind the recognition. “Rucker Park isn’t just a court; it’s a global sports & cultural mecca for legends like Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald, Bill Bradley, Wilt Chamberlain, Dave Cowens, Billy Cunningham, Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe, and Nancy Lieberman to name a few.”

Selfie with Senator Chuck Schumer, Miles “Duece” McBride and Congressman Adriano Espaillat.


Before it was a mecca, Rucker Park was a simple public-school playground. It was Holcombe Rucker, a visionary NYC Park Department Director, who saw beyond the cracked asphalt. In 1956, he saw an opportunity to change lives.

He created the Rucker Tournament, using the power of the game as a bridge for Harlem’s youth to education, college, and employment.
What began as a local league grew into a summer institution. The tournaments became a proving ground for talent, but more importantly, a vehicle for social change. Hundreds of college scholarships have been awarded, thousands of jobs were created, and a culture of mentorship, pride, and possibility was built brick by brick, game by game.

Rucker’s contributions to the game, from nurturing legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Rafer “Skip 2 My Lou” Alston, laid the foundation for the player development systems that are now a global standard.

In 1974, after his passing, the park was officially renamed “Holcombe Rucker Park,” a fitting tribute to a man who saw potential to help youth learn, grow and succeed where others saw just a playground. Now, with its new designation as a National Commemorative Site, Rucker Park is no longer just a legend in the world of basketball.

It is a recognized and celebrated monument to a man’s vision, a community’s spirit, and a culture that has shaped the world. The rain may have fallen, but the legacy of Holcombe Rucker and his park shone brighter than ever, a beacon of hope and a testament to the power of a single idea to change everything.

Jimmy Kimmel Speaks

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Jimmy Kimmel Speaks

Last week, ABC suspended popular talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, reportedly, over pressure from the White House and “a furor” over Kimmel’ words about the assassin of Charlie Kirk, a conservative talk radio host. ABC let Kimmel go. The uproar was heard around the world. On Tuesday, the network reinstated Kimmel.

Excerpts from his opening monologue follow:
“I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours: me or the CEO of Tylenol. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from all the people in the world over the last six days. (Even) the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle, where we are not airing tonight by the way! Sorry, Seattle.
“And I want to thank everyone who checked in. I do especially want to mention are my fellow late night talk-show hosts: my friend Stephen Colbert, who found himself in this predicament, my friends Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, James Corden, Arsenio, Kathy, Wanda, Chelsea. Even Jay reached out.

“I heard from late night hosts in other countries, from Ireland and from Germany. The guy in Germany offered me a job. Can you imagine? This country has become so authoritarian the Germans are like, ‘Come here. Cut loose.’ My boyhood idols Howard Stern and David Letterman were very considerate and kind. I feel honored to be part of a group of people that know what goes into doing a show like this.”

“I also want to thank all of you… who supported our show, cared enough to do something about it, to make your voices heard so that mine could be heard. I will never forget it. And maybe weirdly, maybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe but support my right to share those beliefs anyway, people who I never would have imagined like Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz, who, believe it or not, said something very beautiful on my behalf.
“I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right. He’s absolutely right.

This affects all of us, including him. I mean, think about it. If Ted Cruz can’t speak freely, then he can’t cast spells on the Smurfs. Even though I don’t agree with many of those people on most subjects – some of the things they say even make me want to throw up – it takes courage for them to speak out against this administration, and they did, and they deserve credit for it. And thanks for telling your followers that our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television and that we have to stand up to it.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight. And the truth is I don’t think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference. If you like me, you like me. If you don’t, you don’t. I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind. But I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human. And that is you: understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

“I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed sending love to his family and asking for compassion. I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what … was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.

“But I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both. And for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way. I have many friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to even though we don’t agree on politics at all. I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution. It isn’t. Ever.

“I get many ugly and scary threats against my life, my wife, my kids, my co-workers because of what I choose to say. And I know those threats don’t come from the kind of people on the right who I know and love.

“But I don’t want to make this about me, because I know this is what people say when they make things about them, but this show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East who tell me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power. And worse than being thrown in prison. They know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country


“And that’s something, I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal. That’s not American. That is un-American and it is so dangerous.”

“I want you to think about this. Should the government be allowed to regulate which podcasts the cell phone companies and Wi-Fi providers are allowed to let you download to make sure they serve the public interest? You think that sounds crazy? Ten years ago, this sounded crazy.

Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, telling an American company, ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way’ and that ‘These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,’ in addition to being a direct violation of the First Amendment, is not a particularly intelligent threat to make in public.

“Ted Cruz said he sounded like a mafioso. Although, I don’t know. If you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long.

This genius said it on a podcast. Brendan Carr is the most embarrassing car Republicans have embraced since this one (image of Cybertruck painted with the American flag and ‘Trump’). And that’s saying something. The FCC has a tradition of meddling where they shouldn’t, under many administrations, but it wasn’t always like this.

There was an FCC commissioner back in 2022 who worked under Joe Biden who was spot on. He wrote, ‘President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.’

“Trump) tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this now. Now, a lot of people have been asking me if there are conditions for my return to the air, and there is one.

Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and I’ve agreed to do it. Here we go. ‘To reactivate your Disney Plus and Hulu account, open the Disney Plus app on your smart TV or TV-connected device.’

“I’ve been fortunate to work at a company that has allowed me to do the show the way we want to do it for almost 23 years. I’ve done almost 4,000 shows on ABC. And over that time, the people who run this network have allowed me to evolve and to stretch the boundaries of what was once traditional for a late-night talk show, even when it made them uncomfortable, which I do a lot.

Every night, they’ve defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects that I think are important by allowing me to use their platform. And I am very grateful for that.”

“With that said, I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on Wednesday. I did not agree with that decision, and I told them that and we had many conversations. I shared my point of view. They shared theirs. We talked it through and at the end, even though they really didn’t have to — this is a giant company, we have short attention spans and I am a tiny part of the Disney Corporation — they welcomed me back on the air and I thank them for that because I know that unfortunately and unjustly, this puts them at risk.”


“The President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke. He was somehow able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS.

Then he turned his sights on me, and now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows who don’t make millions of dollars. And I hope that if that happens or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week. We have to speak out against this because he’s not stopping.

“And it’s not just comedy. He’s gunning for our journalists, too. He’s suing them. He’s bullying them. Over the weekend, his Foxy friend Pete Hegseth announced a new policy that requires journalists with Pentagon press credentials to sign a pledge, promising not to report information that hasn’t been explicitly authorized for release. That includes unclassified information.

They want to pick and choose what the news is. I know that’s not as interesting as muscling a comedian, but it’s so important to have a free press, and it is nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it.

“Walter Cronkite must be spinning in his grave right now. Look, I never imagined I would be in a situation like this. I barely paid attention in school. But one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.

“ I am so glad we have some solidarity on that from the right and the left and from those in the middle like Joe Rogan. Maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on, and maybe we’ll even find another one. Maybe we can get a little bit closer together. We do agree on a lot of things.

We agree on keeping our children safe from guns, on reproductive rights for women, Social Security, affordable health care, pediatric cancer research. These are all things that most Americans support. Let’s stop letting these politicians tell us what they want and tell them what we want.

“There was a moment over the weekend, a very beautiful moment. Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was. That’s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. I hope it touches many, and if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that and not this.”

  • Submitted by Keith Forest
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