Jimmy Kimmel’s last night on the air—for now—ended with a prescient musical performance.
With Wednesday’s taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live! canceled, Tuesday’s final segment has taken on new weight: musical guest Margo Price delivered an impromptu call to action against fascism.
Price was performing “Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down,” the first single from her new record Hard Headed Woman, when she opted to swap a lyric in the last seconds of the song. While Price sings “keep all them haters underground, don’t let the bastards get you down” to close out the studio version of the song, she threw in an ad-lib of the first line for her JKL performance: “Keep all them fascists underground.”
Looking back on the moment, Price told CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday that the performance is “kind of eerie” given what transpired with Jimmy Kimmel the next day.
“It’s pertinent now more than ever. I think this is about free speech and viewpoints and people being able to express those viewpoints,” she added. “We’re losing that right, and that’s the very thing that this country was built on.”
That “eerie” moment is all the more serendipitous given the origins of Price’s song. The country singer based “Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down” on advice Sinead O’Connor received amid her own experience with public backlash and late-night censorship. Two weeks after O’Connor infamously tore a photo of the Pope live on Saturday Night Live, she was booed by an audience at Madison Square Garden while appearing at a tribute concert for Bob Dylan. Musician Kris Kristofferson embraced O’Connor onstage, whispering “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
Taking inspiration from O’Connor, Price kicked off her performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! by ripping up a photo of the word ‘bastards.’
Speaking to CNN, Price noted “My first ever performance on television was on the Colbert show. These shows are a real platform for music discovery, especially for artists like me that don’t fit into obvious genre lanes or molds,” said Price. “I have depended on these television platforms to launch my career, and I just think it’s really sad that artists, comedians, musicians—it’s disappearing, the places where you can be discovered.”
The future of Kimmel’s program remains up in the air for now, but if it doesn’t return, Price would hold the distinction of being Jimmy Kimmel Live’s final guest. Following news of Kimmel’s suspension, Price shared a photo from her performance on the show, writing, “If this was the last word, I’m glad it was mine.”
Price’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! performance can be viewed at the top of this post.
I will ban “abc”, !from any and all of my viewing!! So American broadcast channel “ISN’T” very American if they are going to try to stop Free Speech on their channel. I will not watch any of their televised crap or their affiliate’s ever again. Unless this is righted !!