Jimmy Kimmel will return to air on Tuesday night after being briefly suspended by Disney last week, a decision celebrated by many on Monday night, including Jake Tapper. But the CNN host doesn’t expect President Trump’s attacks on free speech to end with Kimmel, and Tapper’s got a contingency plan for when he himself becomes the target — alongside Seth Meyers.
Stopping by “Late Night” in support of his new book on Monday night, Tapper reiterated that Kimmel’s suspension was “the most direct infringement by the government on free speech that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” because it was the result of Trump’s FCC chairman pressuring local affiliates to drop the ABC show. He also predicted that it wouldn’t be the last time, and offered a plan for himself and Meyers.
“I don’t know why Disney and Bob Iger ultimately made the right decision and stood for free speech,” he said. “They didn’t initially, and that would have been the second example, because we all saw what happened with our friend Stephen Colbert and Shari Redstone in Paramount, with a different merger and a different pressure point that the government has.”
“And we’ll see what happens when they come for Comcast, and we’ll see what happens when they come for Warner Brothers Discovery,” Tapper continued. “And maybe you and I will be drawing comic books together.”
Meyers immediately retorted that he’s more worried for Tapper than himself, joking that Trump is “low key” a fan of “Late Night.” Tapper had a good laugh at that but, speaking more seriously, he doubled down on his warning.
“I don’t think it ends with Kimmel,” he said. “In addition to you, and me, and Jimmy Fallon — who is, I don’t know why he’s in his sights, but also named — ‘SNL,’ whatever. I mean, he’s going to be coming. It doesn’t end, is what I’m saying.”
You can watch Tapper’s full appearance on “Late Night” in the video above.
