Comedians, artists are dangerous; that's why they're being silenced

Photo: Glenn Carstens-Peters via Unsplash.

I keep asking myself a question.
Why are entertainers the first to be silenced?
Why are artists the first to be censored?
Why are comedians the first to be shut down?

And the answer comes to me: because they are dangerous.
Not dangerous with weapons. Not dangerous with armies. Not dangerous with laws.
But dangerous with laughter. Dangerous with imagination. Dangerous with truth wrapped in the disguise of a story, a song, a joke.

That’s why Stephen Colbert was silenced.
That’s why Jimmy Kimmel was silenced.
Not because they are small, but because they are powerful.
And authoritarian regimes know it. They always have.

History as our warning

Look at history. Look at the patterns.

When Hitler rose to power in Germany, cabaret singers and satirists were among the first rounded up. Their voices were mocked as “degenerate art,” their stages shuttered, their songs banned. Why? Because a cabaret singer could laugh at a dictator in a way no political pamphlet ever could.

When Stalin reigned in the Soviet Union, poets and playwrights were told to write only what the Party demanded. They called it “socialist realism.” If you painted a different picture, you disappeared into a prison camp. Why? Because a poet can ignite imagination, and imagination is freedom.

When Franco ruled Spain, he banned Catalan music, Basque poetry, and regional dance. Why? Because even a guitar could stir the memory of freedom.

When Pinochet seized Chile, one of his first victims was a musician, Víctor Jara. His songs were the voice of the people. And the regime feared a song more than it feared a rifle. So they broke his hands. They killed him. Why? Because they knew a song could outlive a soldier.

And in every case, it was the same.
First the artists. First the comedians. First the musicians.
Because they know culture shapes courage.
Because they know laughter strips away fear.
Because they know imagination cannot be controlled.

The present moment

And now, here we are.
Stephen Colbert. Gone.
Jimmy Kimmel. Silenced.
Two comedians. Two entertainers. Two late-night voices.

But let us not be deceived. This is not just about late-night television.
It is about whether we still have the right to laugh at power.
It is about whether we still have the right to imagine a world beyond slogans.
It is about whether we still have the right to build community through shared laughter.

Because when the laughter stops, fear begins.
When the songs go quiet, obedience takes root.
When the stories are erased, imagination dies.

And authoritarianism wins.

Why it always starts here

Why do they silence artists first?
Because ridicule makes tyrants look small.
Because humor punctures the cult of personality.
Because satire takes away the myth of invincibility.
And once you take away fear, the people are free.

That’s why. That’s always why.

A call to defend

So let us say it plainly.
To defend our artists is to defend our democracy.
To defend our comedians is to defend our freedom.
To defend our musicians is to defend our imagination.

Their freedom is our freedom.
Their silence is our silence.
Their laughter is our laughter.

When they silence Colbert, they silence us.
When they silence Kimmel, they silence us.
When they silence the artist, the singer, the poet, the painter—
they silence the soul of the people.

The warning of history

History warns us.
It warns us with the cabaret halls of Berlin.
It warns us with the gulags of Siberia.
It warns us with the prisons of Spain.
It warns us with the stadiums of Chile.

History warns us: if we lose art, we lose imagination.
If we lose imagination, we lose courage.
If we lose courage, we lose freedom.

That is why the artist is always first.
That is why the comedian is always first.
That is why the entertainer is always first.

The choice before us

And so the question remains:
Will we allow this to continue?
Will we allow the laughter to be silenced?
Will we allow the stories to be erased?
Will we allow the music to be broken?

Or will we defend them?
Will we defend the artist?
Will we defend the comedian?
Will we defend the imagination of a people?

Because make no mistake—
this is not about them.
This is about us.
This is about the future.
This is about the soul of a nation.

History warns us. Will we listen?