Comedian Wanda Sykes was at home in a full face of makeup Wednesday night because she was headed to have an on-air chat with her friend Jimmy Kimmel when the late-night host’s network, ABC, abruptly pulled his show from the air after complaints from the Trump administration, she said on Instagram.
“So let’s see, [Trump] didn’t end the Ukraine war or solve Gaza within his first week, but he did end freedom of speech within his first year,” Sykes said to the camera. “Hey, for those of you who pray, now’s the time to do it. Love you, Jimmy.”
The Disney-owned network announced Wednesday that it was taking “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” but did not provide an explanation for the move, which followed conservative backlash to comments Kimmel made in an opening monologue about MAGA reactions to the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. Kimmel’s comments were denounced by Nextstar, the biggest owner of ABC-affiliated stations, which said it would replace Kimmel’s show starting Wednesday night.
The show’s suspension also comes after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel and implied that the FCC could retaliate against the companies who aired him.
The timing of the announcement prompted many fellow comedians and Hollywood figures to accuse ABC of caving to the Trump administration’s pressure to censor any views of Kirk deemed as unacceptable by his supporters.
“This isn’t right,” actor and director Ben Stiller wrote on X, posting the news of Kimmel’s suspension.
“I am horrified at the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Hacks” star Jean Smart wrote on Instagram. “What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda. Though I didn’t agree at ALL with Charlie Kirk; his shooting death sickened me; and should have sickened any decent human being. What is happening to our country?”
Comedian Mike Birbiglia posted a photo of a handwritten note on Instagram with the caption “Calling all comedians.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time in public and private defending comedians I don’t agree with,” Birbiglia wrote. “If you’re a comedian and you don’t call out the insanity of pulling Kimmel off the air — don’t bother spouting off about free speech anymore.”
“You know it’s really bad when someone did blackface once and I’m over here saying he did not deserve to get fired,” wrote Skyler Higley, a writer for CBS’s recently ended “After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson” — referring to sketches Kimmel did for “The Man Show” impersonating Black celebrities in the ’90s and early ’00s, for which he’s apologized.
“Jimmy Kimmel should have stuck to acceptable comments, like suggesting that homeless people be executed,” liberal columnist Andy Borowitz wrote, in an ironic reference to to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, who apologized after public outcry over his comment that mentally ill homeless people should be killed by lethal injection.
Roseanne Barr was in the minority among her Hollywood cohort, appearing to delight in the fallout for ABC, the network that in 2018 canceled the return of her sitcom “Roseanne” following a racist tweet she made about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, and for Kimmel, a comedian who’s made fun of her on his show. “Today is better than my birthday,” she wrote in one X post.
Kimmel became the subject of controversy after he said in his opening monologue Monday night that the “MAGA gang” was “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.” He was referring to 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of shooting Kirk.
Robinson grew up in a Republican household but had apparently become sympathetic to LGBTQ+ causes. He does not appear to be ideologically conservative or a supporter of President Donald Trump, but authorities say a motive in the Kirk shooting remains unclear. According to charging documents from prosecutors released this week, Robinson sent a message to his roommate that he “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred.”
In a monologue last week, Kimmel called Kirk’s killing “senseless” and said he had seen “extraordinarily vile responses to this from both sides of the political spectrum,” including those he said were “cheering” Kirk’s death.
As outrage at Kimmel’s comments on Monday was building on the right, Carr, the Trump-appointed FCC chairman, threatened to target ABC if it did not punish Kimmel. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told conservative podcast host Benny Johnson. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said in a statement Wednesday that Kimmel’s comments were “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.” Nexstar owns ABC stations in more than 30 markets, including Nashville, New Orleans and Salt Lake City.
“Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue,” Alford added.
Kimmel’s contract with ABC was set to expire next year, and there was speculation about whether it would be renewed, particularly after the announcement in July that CBS owner Paramount would cancel its top-rated late-night show, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
In a statement Wednesday, the Writers Guild of America West and East expressed solidarity with Kimmel and the writers of his show.
“We stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree,” they said. “Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth.”
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