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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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People were already lined up in Hollywood, ready to attend that night’s taping,\u00a0when the news hit<\/a>\u00a0that Jimmy Kimmel Live! <\/em>had been yanked following the host’s recent remarks about the killing of Charlie Kirk.\u00a0Even guests slated to be on the show had no idea there would be no show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Expressions of “not right” to “attack on free speech” immediately lit up social media, as news of the suspension spread<\/a>.\u00a0Calls have also been growing online to boycott Disney<\/a>,\u00a0ABC and affiliated networks over the move\u00a0and to cancel Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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,”\u00a0actor Paul Scheer\u00a0wrote on the social platform Threads,\u00a0citing a clip of\u00a0Fox & Friends<\/em> co-host Brian Kilmeade suggesting “involuntary lethal injection<\/u><\/a>” for the unhoused. \u00a0<\/p>\n Kilmeade later apologized for that remark, but neither he nor the program were suspended.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n On Instagram, actor Adam Scott called the move “absurd and frightening,” while actor Jean Smart called the cancellation “horrifying.”\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0Instagram.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former late-night host David Letterman, speaking at the Atlantic Festival, called the move “ridiculous.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian \u2014 a criminal \u2014 administration in the Oval Office,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Comedian and actor Alex Edelman, currently appearing in The Paper<\/em>, a spinoff\u00a0of The Office<\/em>, said: “This is the actual cancel culture everyone claims to hate so much.”<\/p>\n Ben Stiller was short and to the point, saying, “This isn’t right.”<\/p>\n The American Federation of Musicians, the union that represents Kimmel’s band, called\u00a0the FCC’s pressure on Disney “state censorship.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Former entertainment reporter Ali Carbone\u00a0said she worried about the effect Kimmel’s suspension\u00a0could have on other shows,\u00a0such as Saturday Night Live <\/em>or\u00a0South Park<\/em><\/a>, which both regularly criticize, poke fun at and satirize Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n “What is SNL<\/em> going to do? And what is South Park<\/em> going to do?” she said to CBC\u00a0News host Ian Hanomansing.<\/p>\n “[Jimmy]\u00a0Fallon, John Oliver \u2014\u00a0what are these comedians who politicize their content and speak truth to power and find levity in what’s happening in our day to day….\u00a0 Will they be allowed to continue to do that?\u00a0Or are they going to face cancellation by the government?”<\/p>\n