<\/p>\n
(AP) – Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon opened their late-night shows Thursday using a mix of humor and solidarity with suspended ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.<\/a><\/p>\n Stewart opted for satire to critique ABC suspending \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d indefinitely following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a>. Colbert took a more serious approach, calling his suspension \u201cblatant censorship.\u201d Fallon praised Kimmel and vowed to keep doing his show as usual. Then an announcer spoke over him and replaced most of his critiques about President Donald Trump with flattery.<\/p>\n Their guests the day after Kimmel\u2019s suspension \u2014 which also came two months after CBS said it would cancel Colbert\u2019s show<\/a> \u2014 varied widely. Fallon\u2019s guests were actor Jude Law, journalist Tom Llamas and actor and singer Jonathan Groff \u2014 none of whom addressed Kimmel\u2019s situation.<\/p>\n Stewart and Colbert interviewed guests who could address censorship concerns raised by Kimmel\u2019s suspension. Journalist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa spoke to Stewart<\/a>.<\/p>\n When Stewart asked Ressa, the author of \u201cHow to Stand Up to a Dictator,\u201d tips on coping with the current moment, Ressa recounted how she and her colleagues at the news site Rappler \u201cjust kept going\u201d when she was faced with 11 arrest warrants in one year under Philippine then-President Rodrigo Duterte.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just kept doing our jobs. We just kept putting one foot in front of the other,\u201d Ressa said.<\/p>\n Stewart\u2019s show opened with a voiceover promising adherence to the party line.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n He lavished praise on the president and satirized his criticism of large cities and his deployment of the National Guard to fight their crime.<\/p>\n \u201cComing to you tonight from the real (expletive), the crime-ridden cesspool that is New York City. It is a tremendous disaster like no one\u2019s ever seen before. Someone\u2019s National Guard should invade this place, am I right?\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d set was refashioned with decorative gold engravings, in a parody of gold accents Trump has added<\/a> to the fireplace, doorway arches, walls and other areas of the Oval Office.<\/p>\n Stewart fidgeted nervously as though he was worried about speaking the correct talking points. When the audience members reacted with an \u201cawww\u201d he whispered: \u201cWhat are you doing? Shut up. You\u2019re going to (expletive) blow this for us.\u201d<\/p>\n He took on a more stilted tone when he started describing Trump\u2019s visit to the United Kingdom, calling the president \u201cour great father.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGaze upon him. With a gait even more majestic than that of the royal horses that prance before him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Stewart normally hosts only on Mondays<\/a>. The Emmy winner helmed \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d from 1999 through 2015, delivering sharp, satirical takes on politics and current events and interviews with newsmakers. He returned to host once a week during the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n Fallon opened his \u201cTonight Show\u201d monologue addressing Kimmel\u2019s suspension. \u201cTo be honest with you all, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. And no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he\u2019s a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimmel<\/a> made several remarks about the reaction to Kirk\u2019s killing on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d Monday and Tuesday nights, including that \u201cmany in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.\u201d<\/p>\n ABC suspended Kimmel\u2019s show after a group of ABC-affiliated stations said it would not air the show<\/a>, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said his agency had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation.<\/p>\n Kimmel has not commented. His supporters say Carr misread what the comic said and that nowhere did he specifically suggest that Tyler Robinson \u2014 the man Utah authorities allege fatally shot Kirk \u2014 was conservative.<\/p>\n In July, CBS said it would cancel \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u201d next May. The network said it shut down the decades-old TV institution for financial reasons. But the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global<\/a>, parent company of CBS, over a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d story.<\/p>\n Colbert started his monologue on Thursday with the animated song \u201cBe Our Guest\u201d from Disney\u2019s \u201cBeauty and the Beast,\u201d but replaced the lyrics with \u201cShut your trap. Shut your trap.\u201d<\/p>\n He later addressed Kimmel directly, saying that he stands with him and his staff.<\/p>\n \u201cIf ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He also responded to remarks Carr made that it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming \u201cthey determine falls short of community values.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech,\u201d Colbert said to loud applause from his audience.<\/p>\n When Colbert talked with New Yorker editor David Remnick about Kimmel\u2019s suspension, he said: \u201cWhat we are seeing now is the government acting at the direction of the president of the United States to put pressure on, to manipulate, to silence and even to shut down institutions of the free word.\u201d<\/p>\nStewart makes special appearance to skewer Kimmel suspension<\/h4>\n
Swift suspension after remarks on Kirk\u2019s assassination<\/h4>\n
\u2018The Late Show\u2019 hosts past and present address suspension<\/h4>\n