Editor's Note: The following has been adapted with the author's permission from its original publication on Carolina Culture Warrior.
On Thursday, ABC cancelled the Tim Allen sitcom Last Man Standing, which had been running on the network for six seasons. During the 2012 election, ABC censored a joke on the show calling then-President Barack Obama a communist. And now ABC has cancelled Last Man Standing allegedly because of a dispute by the show’s distributor 20th Century Fox.
It’s a fair bet that jokes like these played a role in their axing:
Ryan: Uh, no. You won. Yeah. Kris and I didn’t even do anything.
Kristin: Yeah, if this were a competition, you would’ve kicked our asses.
Kyle: So, you’re upset because you feel like you lost?
Ryan: Yeah, losing sucks.
Kyle: We lose all the time, but we still enjoy ourselves. You have to learn to look at losing as a win.
Ryan: You sound like Hillary Clinton’s therapist.
Mandy: It’s okay, Kyle, he doesn’t get it.
Mike: I don’t know, but I’ll find him. It’s a big city, okay?
Joe: No. No, no. That’s not fair!
Mike: Fair went out with Obama. Now get back to work!
Joe: You know, it worked out for the best. I didn’t want to have to buy a new glove.
Chuck: Yeah, what do you want to do now? Get some lunch?
Joe: Hey, I’m buying! I got that glove money burning a hole in my pocket.
Mandy: Nice work. No problem is too small for you to handle, huh?
Mike: Or too big. I’ve worked out a way to defeat ISIS 10 times in my mind.
Of course, this kind of content was unacceptable in liberal Hollywood. But, here’s what you can get away with and not be cancelled.
In 2015, the network’s long-running drama Scandal featured the main protagonist getting an abortion to the tune of Silent Night. It’s still airing. Earlier this year, a so-called “comedy” on ABC called Black-ish told viewers that “a vote for Trump is a vote for racism.” Hysterical. And using an entire episode of Grey’s Anatomy to smear anybody who supports the Second Amendment won’t get you into any trouble either.
Here’s what’s both confusing and infuriating about all of this. ABC entertainment chief Channing Dungey, who was mentored by leftist Hollywood producer Shonda Rhimes, actually said the division she runs would pay more attention to average Americans as a result of President Trump’s election: “[I]n recent history we haven’t paid enough attention to some of the true realities of what life is like for everyday Americans in our dramas.”
And they’re still not paying enough attention. If they wanted to cater to average Americans, they would have kept Last Man Standing. They definitely spoke volumes, as people are hungry for shows like this since they cater to flyover country.
As pointed out here before, Disney-ABC Television Group president Sherwood serves on the board of the Center for Public Integrity, a group funded by progressive bomb thrower George Soros. How convenient is that?
It’s high time for Disney to do a thorough analysis of its entire television arm, especially since CEO Bob Iger serves on President Trump’s strategic & policy forum. No company should endorse one of its divisions abusing freedom of speech.
Nick Kangadis of MRCTV had this take on the whole matter:
[T]his cancellation simply doesn’t make sense. Much like department stores that dropped Ivanka Trump’s line despite its rising profitability, “Last Man Standing” walks, talks and acts like a series that was cancelled because of the message of the show and its star.
Allen has been very outspoken about liberal hypocrisy since Donald Trump was elected to the White House.
ABC has only further exposed itself as an arm of the Democratic Party. As part of a major corporation like Disney, ABC has the right to do whatever it wants, but using its airwaves to tow one political line will alienate more than half its audience.
The network and all of its cable operations (including the struggling ESPN) should be spun off into an independent company, but I guarantee you that if Disney were to do such a transaction, this new spinoff would go the way of the old Citadel Broadcasting, and file for bankruptcy.
Needless to say, ABC will regret this decision.
