Late-night tv comics in the United States strongly criticized former President Donald Trump and accused television networks of censoring free speech after ABC decided to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show. The network pulled Kimmel off the air “indefinitely” because of comments he made about the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
This suspension happened after Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under Trump, threatened to take away broadcast licenses from ABC stations that aired Kimmel’s program.
Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show on CBS, stood in support of Kimmel during his Thursday night broadcast. He began his monologue by saying, Today, we are all Jimmy Kimmel. Colbert added, After threats from Trump’s FCC Chair, ABC pulled Kimmel’s show indefinitely. That is clear censorship. When dealing with an authoritarian leader, you cannot back down even a little. If ABC thinks this move will make Trump’s team happy, they are being very foolish.”
Colbert himself had faced cancellation earlier. His show, which has won Emmy Awards, will go off the air next year. CBS claimed the cancellation was a financial decision, but it came not long after Colbert criticized Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, for settling a lawsuit brought by Trump over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
In recent years, network late-night talk shows have lost a lot of viewers and advertisers. As more people cancel cable subscriptions and turn to streaming services, advertising money has dropped sharply. According to data reported by The New York Times, ad spending on late-night shows across ABC, CBS, and NBC went down by almost half between 2018 and 2024, from $439 million to $221 million.
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, also responded to the Kimmel suspension. On his Thursday episode, he jokingly introduced himself as your patriotically obedient host of the all-new government-approved Daily Show. Stewart sarcastically said, Some critics may say this administration is only pretending to care about free speech so it can gain more power and silence opponents. But not me, I think it’s just great.
Meanwhile, Trump doubled down on his dislike of late-night comedians. Returning from a trip to Britain, he told reporters on Air Force One that these shows only attack Trump and suggested their broadcast licenses should be reviewed. Maybe their license should be taken away. That decision will be up to Brendan Carr, he said. On his Truth Social platform, Trump had already called for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, calling them total losers.
Other late-night hosts spoke out as well. Jimmy Fallon praised Kimmel, calling him a decent, funny, and loving guy and saying he hoped Kimmel would return soon. Fallon then joked about Trump’s UK trip and even played a voiceover sarcastically describing Trump as incredibly handsome.
Seth Meyers also joined in, telling his audience that Trump’s administration was clearly cracking down on free speech. Then, with a sarcastic smile, he added, “And totally unrelated, I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump. If you’ve ever seen me criticize him, that wasn’t me that was AI.”
Late-night legend David Letterman also came to Kimmel’s defense. At an event in New York, Letterman called ABC’s decision ridiculous.He said, “You cannot fire somebody just because you’re afraid or trying to please an authoritarian administration sitting in the White House.”
