News that ABC had suspended Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” moved like a tidal wave of alarm and dismay across social media Wednesday night.
As people announced that they were canceling their Hulu and Disney+ subscriptions in response to the decision, celebrities, TV writers and comedians condemned the silencing of Kimmel. Some issued calls to organize against the network’s actions.
Many of Kimmel’s comedy peers called the decision to cut his show censorship, symptomatic of creeping fascism that had suddenly creeped ever closer, or authoritarianism that was already here.
ABC suspended Kimmel because of comments he made on the show in the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk. The late-night host criticized Republican reactions to the political identity of Tyler Robinson, who is charged with killing him.
Actor-comedian Wanda Sykes was booked as a guest on Kimmel’s show before the ABC decision was announced.
“So I’m in a full face of makeup because I was supposed to go over and have a chat with my friend Jimmy Kimmel on his show, but as you have heard by now, the Jimmy Kimmel show has been pulled indefinitely, abruptly, because of the complaints from the Trump administration,” Sykes said. “So let’s see. (President Donald Trump) didn’t end the Ukraine War or solve Gaza within his first week. But he did end freedom of speech within his first year. Hey, for those of you who pray, now’s the time to do it. Love you, Jimmy.”
Jean Smart just won her third Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for playing Deborah Vance on the HBO Max series “Hacks.”
In the show’s most recent season, Vance is both a veteran comedian and a new late-night talk show host.
Smart posted a photo she took with Kimmel in sharing her response to his suspension on Instagram.
“I am horrified at the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live,” she said. “What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda. Though I didn’t agree at ALL with Charlie Kirk; his shooting death sickened me; and should have sickened any decent human being. What is happening to our country?”
Comedian Mike Birbiglia posted a handwritten note about free speech.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in public and private defending comedians I don’t agree with,” he said. “If you’re a comedian and you don’t call out the insanity of pulling Kimmel off the air — don’t bother spouting off about free speech anymore.”
Kathy Griffin pointed to the power of people’s wallets to make them heard about the loss of free speech.
“Please, take it from me, it is very important to have Jimmy Kimmel’s back right now,” Griffin said on Threads. “Be vocal. Be an ideological consumer. Money is all their crowd cares about.”
Kimmel’s suspension was announced just two days after he made the comments about the response to Kirk’s death on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday and three days after the 77th Emmys, where the late-night show was nominated for outstanding talk series.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing anything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on the show.
He then cued up footage of a reporter asking Trump how he was holding up while mourning Charlie Kirk.
“I think very good,” Trump said, quickly pivoting to talk about the construction of a ballroom at the White House.
“It’s gonna be a beauty,” the president said.
Later, Trump, reacting to Kimmel’s suspension while abroad in the United Kingdom, called it “great news for America.“ He went on to label Kimmel’s fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers “two total losers,” calling for their ouster at NBC as he had Kimmel’s at ABC.
The ABC decision arrives in a TV landscape of major money movements, as Variety and other outlets have reported.
Disney suspended Kimmel after Nexstar Media, which owns TV stations across the country, criticized Kimmel for his comments, saying that its stations carrying Kimmel’s show would be airing other programming instead of the late-night fixture.
Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC stations, is looking to acquire Tegna, another company that owns TV stations, for $6.2 billion. Such a deal would require the approval of the Federal Communications Commission.
Kimmel’s suspension came hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr railed against ABC for Kimmel’s comments.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on a podcast with Benny Johnson, per Variety. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Marc Maron, actor-comedian, podcasting giant and New Jersey native, pointed to all of these connections in a video on Instagram (watch below).
“It’s happening,” Maron said. “Jimmy Kimmel has been muzzled and taken off the air by his network ABC, who are buckling to and trying to appease the Nexstar media conglomerate who have a lot of affiliates, and they threatened to preempt him at the suggestion of the FCC chair.
“This is government censorship,” Maron continued. This is the Trump administration coming after people who speak out against him. This is the end of it. If you have any concern or belief in real freedom or the Constitution and free speech, this is it. This is the deciding moment. This is what authoritarianism looks like right now. It’s happening. So if you’re a free speech warrior, or you really talk the talk about protecting free speech, this isn’t about saying the R word or the T word or any of that. This is government censorship.
“This isn’t f—ing Twitter,” he continued. “This isn’t people getting canceled because of a cultural pile-on. This is the United States government silencing voices that they disagree with. FCC Chair Carr put this out. This is his directive. This is the U.S. government. Look, if they can come for Kimmel, they can come for anybody.”
Maron urged people to “push back” — “because if this goes, it’s over.”
“It’s time to act,” he said in the caption of his post. “Organize, speak out, be peaceful, be urgent. It’s happening very fast.”
When Kimmel talked about Kirk on 9/11, a day after he was killed, he called his death a “senseless murder,” one that has “amplified our anger, our differences.”
Parallels have been drawn between Kimmel’s “indefinite” ouster and CBS’ July decision to end Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” next year. (“The Late Show” just won its first Emmy for outstanding variety talk series.)
Colbert, who lives in Montclair, had criticized CBS parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement with Trump over the president’s claims about the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. (“As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended and I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company,” Colbert said. “But just takin’ a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”)
Not long after he made those criticisms on “The Late Show,” he was announcing the show’s impending exit.
CBS denied the decision had anything to do with Paramount’s then in-progress merger with the company Skydance, which also had to be approved by the FCC (and was indeed approved).
The Writers Guild of America put out a statement in response to Kimmel’s suspension and the removal of his show from the ABC lineup.
“The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other — to disturb, even — is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people,” the union said. “It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of government power, not by acts of corporate cowardice.
“As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to — painful as it may be at times — is the freeing agreement to disagree.”
New Jersey comedian Chris Gethard, who grew up in West Orange, shared an Instagram post drawing a line from Colbert and Kimmel to NPR, PBS and the Kennedy Center.
“They’re coming for the arts,” the image read.
W. Kamau Bell, a comedian and TV host (CNN’s “United Shades of America”), also talked about Colbert and Kimmel.
“Who knew that rich white men would be the canary in the coal mine of American capitalism?” he said in a video on Instagram.
“A few weeks ago, they got rid of Stephen Colbert, today they suspended Jimmy Kimmel. They’re lettin’ us know, they ain’t scared of none of us. None. Of. Us. It’s time to come together, y’all. Strength in numbers.”
Actor David Krumholtz, another New Jersey resident, also shared his thoughts on Kimmel’s forced exit.
“MAGA is more marketable now,” Krumholtz said on Threads. “At the end of the day, the corporations that own media companies are afraid of losing viewership (money) and so MAGA is now being leaned into, rather than shied away from. The new normal is wildly abnormal. Upside down country…. Diversity & Inclusion in tv and films is about to take a massive step backwards. And we have no say,… we grin and we bear it?
“A re-routing of culture… to pad the bottom line, an opaque line of zero ethical priorities… entertainment is now speaking complete gibberish for money, erasure of liberal art… our free speech comes at a cost to corporations.”
The Screen Actors Guild condemned Kimmel’s suspension.
“Our society depends on freedom of expression,” the labor union said in a statement.
“Suppression of free speech and retaliation for speaking out on significant issues of public concern run counter to the fundamental rights we all rely on.”
SAG called the suspension of Kimmel and the show “the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
