Fans, celebrities and US Democratic politicians expressed anger and disappointment after ABC announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live from the air indefinitely, saying that the move amounted to censorship and was an attack on free speech.
Conservative activists and media personalities, meanwhile, celebrated ABC’s decision, saying that Kimmel’s comments about the motives of the man accused of fatally shooting right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last week warranted the network shelving his late night show.
On Monday, Kimmel said the “Maga gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
The comments drew the ire of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr, who told podcaster Benny Johnson they constituted the “sickest conduct possible” and suggested the FCC could remove affiliate licences if Kimmel was not punished.
READ MORE
The reactions to ABC’s susequent decision reflected the partisan divide that was laid bare in the days since Kirk was killed.
Nicholas Scutti (33) of Hollywood, California, was among the fewer than 10 protesters who gathered outside Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday evening. An aspiring comedy writer, he said that ABC’s decision to indefinitely take the programme off the air had hit him particularly hard, and prompted him to join a public show of disapproval.
“I think it is important to speak up now because if people don’t speak up now, it will be harder to speak up later,” he said.
Connor Lattery (22) of Burbank, California, was in line for a premiere screening of HIM, a new football-themed horror film, at the TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from Kimmel’s studio. He said he was “shocked” by ABC’s announcement.
“Seeing the clip that they’re cancelling him over, it seemed like a little bit of an extreme decision,” he said.
Heidie Garcia (21) who had driven from near Long Beach, California, and was also waiting to see the film, was less surprised. “We can’t say anything any more – everything is being censored,” she said.
[ Explainer: What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk’s death?Opens in new window ]
On social media, many conservatives considered ABC’s decision an overdue reckoning for a comedian they had long criticised, while US president Donald Trump’s critics tied the decision – which they denounced as being prodded by the government – to what they see as the administration’s larger efforts to curb free expression.
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said he did not believe Kimmel’s removal was an example of “cancel culture.” He said that “when a person says something that a tonne of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it, that’s not cancel culture. That is consequences for your actions.”
California governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on social platform X on Wednesday that the Republican pressure campaign on media companies to fire commentators, cancel shows and assert control over media platforms was a “co-ordinated” and “dangerous” attack on the first amendment of the US constitution.
“The @GOP does not believe in free speech,” Newsom wrote. “They are censoring you in real time.”
Tommy Vietor, a former national security spokesperson in the administration of former president Barack Obama and a host of the liberal political podcast Pod Save America, called the suspension of Kimmel’s show “absurd”.
If Kimmel made a factual error, he should correct it, Vietor said on X, but “suspending or cancelling the show is a wild overreaction”.
Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who was scheduled to debate Kirk this month, said on X that corporations were “instantly folding” to the Trump administration, and called on liberals to fight back.
Democratic senator Chris Murphy urged people to mobilise in response to the pulling of Kimmel’s show and accused Trump of using Kirk’s death to silence his opponents.
“If you don’t raise your voices right now about the assault on free speech, about Donald Trump’s decision to, disgustingly, exploit the murder of Charlie Kirk so as to try to permanently render powerless and impotent those who politically oppose him, there may be no democracy to save a year from now,” he said in a video posted to social media.
[ Maureen Dowd: At least South Park will still hold people accountableOpens in new window ]
The pause on Kimmel’s show came about two months after CBS announced that it was cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which runs in the same time slot as Jimmy Kimmel Live! The cancellation of Colbert’s show similarly drew widespread criticism from fans.
At the time, CBS said the cancellation was a “purely financial decision” and not related to Colbert’s politics, which, as with Kimmel’s, are staunchly opposed to Trump’s. Colbert and Kimmel frequently make jokes about right-wing politics on their shows, and often use their opening monologues to criticise the Trump administration.
Trump applauded ABC’s move in a social media post from Britain, where he is on a state visit, calling it “Great News for America” and urging NBC to take the same step with its late-night line-up.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump said. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
Later, during a press conference with British prime minister Keir Starmer, he said: “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”
Other voices from the right also chimed in on social media.
Mark Levin, a conservative commentator, said that Kimmel should have been “canned a long time ago.”
“Better late than never,” Levin said.
Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor turned YouTube host, speculated about the response from viewers to Kimmel’s monologue.
“Just think for a minute about the amount of IRATE mail/viewer feedback they must have gotten to do this,” Ms Kelly said in a post on X.
Shortly before the show’s pre-emption was announced Wednesday, Donald Trump jnr, the president’s son, called Kimmel a “disgrace” in a post on X.
- This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
2025 The New York Times Company
