in Entertainment, So That Happened

Jimmy Kimmel Slams The Net Neutrality Decision In Passionate, Furious Monologue

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On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted — among party lines and against the will of the majority of Americans — to repeal the rules commonly known as “Net Neutrality” that makes the Internet an open and egalitarian place. Many fear that this means service providers will now be able to charge higher rates for different tiers of faster and faster internet access. That’s bound to favor big e-companies and hurt the smaller ones.

Things aren’t going to change right away, and there’s still a possibility that Congress could block the decision. Even some Republicans think it’s a dumb idea, but then again, maybe not, considering that ISP’s have donated more than $100 million to current members of Congress.

Until then, Internet users have been left to stew and worry. One of those people is Jimmy Kimmel. The once (and often, still) silly, easygoing comic has slowly turned into a widely heard voice for progressives. Earlier this year, after his infant son needed intensive medical care for a heart issue, Kimmel gave impassioned monologues on the air about the need to save Obamacare. Last night, Kimmel stood up to the FCC with an engaging speech about how the repeal of Net Neutrality is both dangerous and bad.

“Internet service providers will be allowed to slow down or block web traffic to any website or streaming service they like,” Kimmel said, “which benefits the big telecom companies, and does the opposite for all of us.”

He added:  “They did this even though 83 percent of Americans support Net Neutrality — and two million of the people who supposedly wrote to the FCC to oppose it — were bogus.” Indeed, millions of letters to the agency were faked, part of a plan to create the impression that people actually wanted this law repealed.

Then Kimmel sarcastically thanked President Trump and “this jackhole you appointed to run the FCC,” a former Comcast executive named Ajit Pai. “Big corporations are about to take full control of the Internet. So Merry Christmas, everybody.”

Lots of people then used the Internet, you know, while they could, to thank Kimmel for taking a stand.

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