Dennis Quaid urged Jimmy Kimmel to own the controversy surrounding his late night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“You have the right to free speech, and he certainly had the right to do that,” the actor, 71, said on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Tuesday, September 23, referring to Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk. “I would definitely give him that. But there are consequences that come with it, and you have to accept those if you’re going to speak freely like that.”
Quaid then speculated about why ABC pulled Kimmel, 57, from the air earlier this month.
“Originally it was, the local affiliates are the ones that complained, I guess, because of people calling in to complain, and they’re also losing ratings, and I think it was a business issue,” he claimed. “But you have to accept the consequences.”
While Quaid did not publicly disagree with the network’s decision like many other celebrities, he had nice things to say about his past experiences with Kimmel.
“I’ve done Jimmy Kimmel over the years when I’m promoting a movie or whatever,” he noted. “He was always a very kind guy.”
Earlier this month, Kimmel came under fire when he alleged that the “MAGA gang [was] desperately trying to characterize” Kirk’s accused killer, Tyler Robinson, “as anything other than one of them” while attempting to “score political points.”
After Nexstar Media threatened to eliminate Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its affiliates’ lineup, ABC pulled the show off the air indefinitely. The network later announced the late night program would resume on Tuesday, though Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group still plan to preempt it on their ABC stations.
The Walt Disney Company explained in a Monday, September 22, statement that the organization “made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment in our country” because they “felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.” After “thoughtful conversations” with Kimmel, though, ABC opted to resume filming on Tuesday.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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