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What Ancient Rome and Greece can teach us about comedians and free speech

As president Donald Trump celebrates the cancelation of comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert and says he hopes the same fate will befall others who have been similarly critical, a look at the comedians in the ancient world who faced serious penalties for making jokes about the powers that be and what lessons we can learn from their stories about the fate of free speech in this country.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Chloe Veltman
Chloe Veltman is a correspondent on NPR's Culture Desk.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.