Stephen Colbert has some choice words for Disney and ABC.
Colbert went on Instagram ahead of his Thursday night show to tease his monologue, which addresses the Wednesday suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Colbert — who recently faced his own cancellation after calling Paramount’s payout to President Donald Trump a “big fat bribe” — admonished media executives for capitulating to threats from Trump’s FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
The late night host also openly mocked Disney officials for reportedly “pissing themselves” over these threats, saying it “proves Disney is #1 in streaming.”
“This may seem bad, but Carr was quick to reassure everyone, posting ‘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,’” Colbert recited. “Well you know what my community values are buster? Freedom of speech!” You can watch the full clip below.
As Kimmel faces suspension, Colbert is currently staring down the impending ending of his own late show. In July Paramount and CBS canceled “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” soon after Colbert criticized Trump and his parent network, over what they cited as “purely a financial decision” — as Paramount’s Skydance merger pended FCC approval.
The merger later went through.
Kimmel’s suspension came in a similar situation. The late night host came under fire for comments he made during Monday’s monologue about the MAGA movement and Charlie Kirk’s killer, Tyler Robinson. These comments were made while few details were known about Robinson (some of which was cleared up during a Tuesday police press conference), and most commentary about his identity was purely speculative.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on Monday.
On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC over the incident during a podcast appearance. Soon after, Nexstar — which owns more than 30 nationwide ABC affiliates — announced it would preempt all broadcasts of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” ABC soon followed suit, saying the show was indefinitely suspended.
Like Paramount at the time of Colbert’s cancellation (Colbert is set to finish out the season), Nexstar too has a merger pending FCC approval. The company is currently attempting to acquire Tegna, another station group and direct competitor.
