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Last week, the White House finally responded to the online petition calling for the government to punish late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for a segment of his Jimmy Kimmel Live show which originally aired last October.
In the segment, Kimmel queries a group of children on what they thought was the best way for the US to pay China back for the US$ 1.3 trillion it owes. Kimmel's "that's an interesting idea" response to a suggestion by one of the children, that everyone in China be killed, sparked outrage from Chinese-American groups, and even got a response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Soon afterward both Kimmel and ABC Studios, which produces and airs the show, apologized for the segment.
Not satisfied with the apologies, an online petition was submitted to the White House for the show to be removed from being broadcast. Under the White House petition system, the administration will respond to any submission made no matter what the subject is, as long as it is able to obtain 100,000 signatures within 30 days of submission. Nearly 105,000 signatures were obtained for the Kimmel petition within the allotted 30 days, forcing the White House to respond.
In its response, the White House first pointed out that both Jimmy Kimmel and ABC Studios had apologized for the segment, including an on-air and written apology by Kimmel, as well as the promise by ABC to remove the segment from any future broadcasts, before making it clear that there was nothing the White House could do to force ABC to remove the show nor interfere with ABC's right to broadcast it - a right which is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment's protection of free speech.
The White House was careful to emphasize however, that the comments made on the segment "do not reflect the mainstream views of China in the United States" and that President Obama had previously and publicly stated, "the United States welcomes the continuing peaceful rise of China."
The White House suggested that if petitioners were not satisfied with its response, they could also file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission which is directly responsible for the regulation of all TV broadcasts.
