Public figures including Ben Stiller, Chris Hayes and California Gov. Gavin Newsrom denounced Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from ABC on Wednesday, calling it a “wild overreaction” and an attack on free speech.
“This is the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I’ve ever seen in my life and it’s not even close,” said MSNBC’s “All In” host Hayes.
Emmy-winning comedian and “The Paper” breakout Alex Edelman quipped, “This is the actual cancel culture everyone claims to hate so much.”
And Stiller, meanwhile, said simply, “This isn’t right.”
ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday, “indefinitely” pulling his late night program from the air after the host incorrectly indicated Monday that alleged Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson was part of what he jokingly called the “MAGA gang.”
Response to the move was swift online, with many in Hollywood, political and media circles saying the decision was infringing on Kimmel’s rights.
Gov. Newsom said that the string of such politically triggered instances “aren’t coincidences” and that Donald Trump and his supporters are “censoring you in real time.”
It didn’t take long for Trump himself to chime in on the development. Soon after the cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in July, the president took to Truth Social to say, “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” Months later, Trump is celebrating the Kimmel suspension (though, Trump said Kimmel is “CANCELLED”).
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” Trump said on Truth Social Wednesday. “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who earlier Wednesday urged ABC to handle the Kimmel situation before the government had to get involved, likewise joined the fray.
“I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing,” he said on X. “Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”
Christopher Anders, director of the Democracy and Technology Division at the American Civil Liberties Union, chimed in on the matter, calling Kimmel “the latest target of the Trump administration’s unconstitutional plan to silence its critics and control what the American people watch and read.” Anders took ABC and Nexstar to task for “cowering to threats” and giving Carr “exactly what he wanted.”
“This is beyond McCarthyism,” the ACLU representative said in a statement. “Trump officials are repeatedly abusing their power to stop ideas they don’t like, deciding who can speak, write, and even joke. The Trump administration’s actions, paired with ABC’s capitulation, represent a grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms.”
Many pointed to the hypocrisy of Kimmel’s suspension in the wake of Brian Kilmeade’s recent comments on Fox News. The same day as Kirk’s assassination, Kilmeade and co-host Lawrence Jones went on “Fox & Friends,” where they discussed the killing of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“You can’t give them a choice,” Jones said of the homeless. “Either you take the resources that we’re gonna give you, or you decide that you’re gonna be locked up in jail. That’s the way it has to be now.”
“Or involuntary lethal injection or something,” Kilmeade said. “Just kill ’em.”
While Kimmel’s comments bought him a suspension, Kilmeade got off with an apology.
Catch a full roundup of online responses as they come below:
