Liberal Free Speech Warriors Fall Silent (Again)
Two high-profile cancellations can't stir Kimmel crowd from its slumber
Ben Bankas’s sold-out Minneapolis shows have been canceled, but there’s more where they came from.
A lot more.
The rebel comedian saw six stand-up appearances disappear after word spread about his coarse cracks tied to Renee Good. The single mother confronted ICE agents in Minneapolis last month, refused to obey their instructions and was fatally shot after apparently steering her car into an agent.
Bankas’s comments?
“Her last name was Good. That’s what I said after they shot her in the face.”
Rough stuff, no doubt. He’s also a comedian known for saying outrageous things, yet he got the Minnesota pink slip all the same. So where are his fellow comedians? Do they have his back?
So far, very few appear to have it. That goes doubly for the self-described free speech heroes on late-night TV. Neither Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert has mentioned the cancellation. Chances are, they never will.
Why?
They don’t care about free speech unless their complaints can be tied to an anti-Trump narrative. The recent Hollywood war on all things ICE proves it.
The same Hollywood types who rallied behind Kimmel after his one-week suspension last year haven’t said “boo” about the Bankas situation.
It gets worse.
The reason for the Bankas cancellations? Security concerns. The club owner worried there might be violence from the far-Left if a Good critic took the stage. The owner didn’t label the potential source of violence, but common sense fills in the gaps.
Plus, Bankas recently told a stand-up audience he was willing to pay for extra security out of his pocket to make sure the shows went on.
Not good enough, apparently.
It’s not the only case of an artist finding his or her voice silenced. Apple Music removed a satirical song by Australian singer Holly Valance tied to an anti-woke comedy. Valance updated her 2002 song “Kiss Kiss” with new lyrics and an expanded title – “Kiss Kiss (XX) My Arse.”
The song is featured in “A Super Progressive Movie,” an animated satire skewering the modern woke movement. Apple Music later reinstated the song following a public backlash.
The film itself nearly endured a cancellation attack. but the venues in question reversed course and screened the movie as planned.
Again, we’ve heard few, if any, comments from the artistic community regarding the removal. No late-night TV segments decrying the censorship.
There is an upside, though.
Bankas, love him or hate him, has a crush of upcoming, sold-out shows on his agenda. The Minneapolis kerfuffle will likely boost his career, too.
The comic said as much on social media, where his comedy clips routinely go viral.
“I’ll never stop being me.. Was in DC last weekend and we’ve got over 20 million views since… Laughter is the best medicine and you can tell who’s been off their meds…. The haters want to knock me down because they don’t like success especially when it’s self made. The smart normal ones will prevail. We’ve added a lot of shows.”
UPDATE: Comedian Chrissie Mayr is an exception to the rule. The rebel comic blasted the Minneapolis club for canceling Bankas.
“People who try to cancel your shows are never the people buying comedy tickets. They just want your livelihood demolished.”@ChrissieMayr blasts a Woke Minnesota club for canceling six sold-out Ben Bankas shows after complaints about his Renee Good jokes. pic.twitter.com/o5xoOnlnjk
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) February 5, 2026
no one is saying he doesn’t have the right to free speech. people are allowed to dislike him for a hateful rhetoric though!
Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel have compared ICE to Nazis … that’s far more hateful rhetoric. Their gigs haven’t been canceled. Bankas is an overtly outrageous comic, pushing all the buttons he can. That Minny club knew that. They made their choice, in part, due to fear of violence. Everyone should be against that.
A private venue deciding not to let a comic perform is not an infringement on free speech whether its because the comic says something they don’t like or because the comic is a hack that wouldn’t cut it outside of a garbage comedy scene like idk Austin, Tx. Private entities have the right to choose who they let perform whether you agree with them or not. An infringement of free speech has to come from the government either compelling or restricting the speech of a citizen or private company. Read a book, expressing being offended by something is also protected under free speech just as much as saying edgelord jokes. Cancelling someone and ignoring them because they’re a hack is in the eye of the beholder
BEN BANKAS openly declares himself to be racist. Fk Ben Bankas. And FK you for worrying about this pos. When a liberal comedian held up Trumps severed head in effigy you did not see a reason to “platform” that. You were right then. Why the change now? Hypocrite or fellow racist?
While I don’t think the venues in Minnesota should have canceled on Bankas, I get it. The liberal leftoids are pretty much insane these days and many of them have zero impulse control. “Feelings trump facts” in their brains, and if they feel Bankas crossed a line with his jokes, they’ll happily get violent over it. Perhaps not just aimed at him, but also aimed at anyone in the audience they saw as supporting him.
.
Contrast it to the many jokes aimed at Charlie Kirk after he was assassinated…and yet, no conservatives went and attacked the people making the jokes. Go figure.