Corporate america and the 1st amendment

Since when is it up to any entity except the Supreme Court to establish boundaries on constitutional issues?  What is "public opinion"?  By my way of thinking that's nothing more than the loudest voice, with no regard for what is actually protected or not under the constitution.

Our 1st Amendment rights grant us the right of free speech, it doesn't protect us from the consequences of that speech.

I think Bill O'Reilly was a bad example - he wasn't fired because of his views or speech, he was fired because of his actions.

No dude.....you were headed down the right road!

Like Mike said above, I think the VAST majority of corporate American doesn't want any part of politics for fear of pizzing off some part of their customer base.  In the case of someone like O'Reilly, I think the sponsors pull their ads as a result of public opinion, not because the sponsors are holding some sort of moral high ground and are silencing speech for political reasons.

Corporate America is paying for a product, period.  At the point that the product ceases to be what they signed up for, they have every right to complain.  Why don't sponsors jump ship when Bill Maher makes racist comments or when Howard Stern says outrageous things?  Because its pretty much expected.

Little bit of a side thought, but I saw RC Cola made some anti-Trump statements on social media a while back and rolled my eyes at how stupid they were.  Then I started watching it play out on social media and the right was mocking them for only having 1% market share in cola and the left was heralding them as heroic and brave and wanting to go buy their product.

I took a step back and now believe they were brilliant because they had such a low customer base already they elevated themselves with half the country through political statements.  Marketing is so goofy sometimes.