Stephen Colbert Slams Kimmel Suspension as ‘Blatant Censorship,’ Warns It Won’t ‘Satisfy the Regime’

Stephen Colbert warned ABC and related corporate entities in his Thursday night Late Show monologue that they’re being “woefully naive” if they think the Jimmy Kimmel suspension will “satisfy the regime.”

On Thursday’s show, aired Sept. 18, Colbert first welcomed the audience to the Ed Sullivan Theater with his usual introduction before diving right into the topic at hand. Namely, Colbert, like anyone with a brain, is concerned about what could be ahead if corporate fuckery of this level continues to lead to what he and others have criticized as “blatant censorship,” a more-than-apt assessment.

“Tonight we are all Jimmy Kimmel,” Colbert said in his monologue. “I still have a show though, right? Okay, good. Yesterday, after threats from Trump’s FCC chair, ABC yanked Kimmel off the air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship, and it always starts small. You know, remember, like, in week one, ‘Gulf of America.’ Call it ‘Gulf of America.’ Sure, seems harmless. But with an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. And if ABC thinks this is gonna satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive.”

Specifically addressing Kimmel’s more-than-innocuous remarks, Colbert then reminded those who may have forgotten what purpose, exactly, a late-night monologue is intended to serve. In short, the format is meant to address whatever viewers are talking about at any given moment. In Kimmel’s case, that meant the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, who has posthumously been made the subject of a quasi-deification campaign by MAGAites. This has persisted, notably, despite Kirk’s well-documented history of saying absolutely vile shit.

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“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 in his most-recent monologue, with FCC chair Brendan Carr preposterously calling these remarks the “sickest conduct possible” in a podcast interview.

“Is that the clip, really?” Colbert said after playing Kimmel’s remarks for the Late Show audience. “Because that’s just Jimmy Kimmel. Given the FCC’s response, I was expecting something more provocative. That’s like hearing Playboy has a racy new centerfold and finding out it’s just Jimmy Kimmel.”

From there, Colbert detailed the high-level corporate fuckery that led to all of this, including an “implied threat” from Carr. As Colbert pointed out, Carr himself argued in an X update back in 2020 that “shutting down” political speech of this type represents “a serious threat” to everyone’s freedoms.

“Oh man, do not tell Brendan Carr that Brendan Carr said that or he’s gonna get Brendan Carr to cancel Brendan Carr,” Colbert quipped, adding that Carr’s statements “sure seem like marching orders.”

Later, Colbert referenced his own cancellation, as well as highlighted the mergers-fueled involvement of Disney and Nexstar in this current bullshittery.

“This was part of a plan,” Colbert added. “How do I know that? Two months ago, when the president was tastefully celebrating my cancellation, he posted ‘Jimmy Kimmel is next to go.’”

Elsewhere on Thursday’s episode, Colbert revived his beloved Colbert Report character, like so:

Fellow late-night personalities Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart also addressed Kimmel’s suspension during their shows on Thursday night. See more below.