Hollywood supporters slam Kimmel’s suspension as ‘actual cancel culture’

ABC’s sudden and indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show sparked immediate reaction from his fellow comedians and colleagues in the entertainment world on Wednesday. 

People were already lined up in Hollywood, ready to attend that night’s taping, when the news hit that Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been yanked following the host’s recent remarks about the killing of Charlie Kirk. Even guests slated to be on the show had no idea there would be no show. 

Expressions of “not right” to “attack on free speech” immediately lit up social media, as news of the suspension spread. Calls have also been growing online to boycott Disney, ABC and affiliated networks over the move and to cancel Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions. 

“So let me get this right. Kimmel is off the air for his comments about the politicization of an assassination but this is totally fine,” actor Paul Scheer wrote on the social platform Threads, citing a clip of Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade suggesting “involuntary lethal injection” for the unhoused.  

Kilmeade later apologized for that remark, but neither he nor the program were suspended.

Actor and former wrestler Kevin Nash called ABC’s move “pathetic” and said its programming would no longer be seen in his home. “I guess freedom of speech doesn’t exist at your network. In times like this America looks for a spine.”

On Instagram, actor Adam Scott called the move “absurd and frightening,” while actor Jean Smart called the cancellation “horrifying.” 

Comedian Wanda Sykes, who was supposed to be on Wednesday night’s show, was among those who appeared to blame the suspension on political pressure from the Trump administration.

The U.S. president “didn’t end the Ukraine war or solve Gaza within his first week. But he did end freedom of speech within his first year,” she posted on Instagram. 

Former late-night host David Letterman, speaking at the Atlantic Festival, called the move “ridiculous.” 

“You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian — a criminal — administration in the Oval Office,” he said. 

Comedian and actor Alex Edelman, currently appearing in The Paper, a spinoff of The Office, said: “This is the actual cancel culture everyone claims to hate so much.”

Ben Stiller was short and to the point, saying, “This isn’t right.”

The American Federation of Musicians, the union that represents Kimmel’s band, called the FCC’s pressure on Disney “state censorship.” 

“This is not complicated: Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and threatened ABC with extreme reprisals,” union president Tino Gagliardi said in a statement. “This is state censorship. It is now happening in the United States of America, not some far-off country.” 

Former entertainment reporter Ali Carbone said she worried about the effect Kimmel’s suspension could have on other shows, such as Saturday Night Live or South Park, which both regularly criticize, poke fun at and satirize Trump. 

“What is SNL going to do? And what is South Park going to do?” she said to CBC News host Ian Hanomansing.

“[Jimmy] Fallon, John Oliver — what are these comedians who politicize their content and speak truth to power and find levity in what’s happening in our day to day….  Will they be allowed to continue to do that? Or are they going to face cancellation by the government?”

South Park delayed its episode this week, which would have been the first since the Kirk shooting. 

Comedy Central also pulled reruns of a recent episode of the show that had poked fun at Kirk, though Kirk himself had praised the episode, saying in a TikTok video, “We need to have a good spirit about being made fun of.”