The sudden suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! has sent tremors through the late-night television landscape. Fellow hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Stewart have all weighed in on ABC’s controversial decision to pull the popular program off the air.
On September 17, the Walt Disney-owned network declared that Kimmel’s show would be ‘pre-empted indefinitely.’ This came after significant public outcry regarding his remarks about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Reports suggest that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) exerted pressure, leading major ABC affiliate operators, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, to swiftly remove the program from their lineups.
Jimmy Fallon was quick to address the uproar on The Tonight Show. With a characteristic chuckle, he reassured his audience he wasn’t the one suspended, recounting, ‘This morning I woke up to 100 text messages from my dad saying I’m sorry they cancelled your show. I go, that’s not me, that’s Jimmy Kimmel.’ Fallon affectionately called Kimmel a ‘decent, funny, and loving guy,’ voicing hope for his comeback while also acknowledging the broader industry worries about censorship.
Over on NBC, Seth Meyers skillfully employed sarcasm to poke fun at the idea that other comedians might suffer similar fates. ‘Completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here that I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump,’ Meyers deadpanned. He then comically lauded the former president as a ‘visionary’ and ‘even better golfer,’ jokingly asserting that any prior criticisms were merely the work of advanced artificial intelligence.
Stephen Colbert adopted a more direct and critical stance during his Late Show monologue. He lambasted the FCC’s alleged involvement in the suspension, labeling it a ‘blatant assault on the freedom of speech.’ Colbert remarked that ‘people across the country are shocked by this blatant assault,’ and didn’t hold back in ridiculing Disney executives for what he characterized as caving to political pressure.
Jon Stewart, true to form, approached the controversy with biting satire on The Daily Show. He unveiled a mock ‘government approved’ segment, complete with golden flourishes evoking the Trump White House. Stewart then expertly exposed what he perceived as hypocrisy from conservative pundits, showcasing clips of Republican figures denouncing inflammatory language while simultaneously making offensive comments. ‘Only a bad person would celebrate violence or make crass jokes about it,’ Stewart declared, segueing into a montage of Trump’s associates jesting about the 2022 assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
This unfolding controversy has reignited passionate debates surrounding the limits of political satire and free speech within American television. Jimmy Kimmel’s future at ABC remains highly uncertain, with both the network and its affiliate partners offering no clear timeline for his potential return. Meanwhile, his fellow comedians are leveraging their own shows to champion free expression, even as they continue to transform this evolving drama into fresh late-night material.