ABC
A swath of late night TV hosts, both past and present, have shared their reactions to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air “indefinitely” following pressure from FCC head Brendan Carr, who has since gloated over ABC’s decision on social media via The Office GIFs.
On Monday, when discussing the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel said that the right is trying its best to paint the alleged killer as being “anything other than MAGA.”
“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 with everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
These comments were apparently enough to warrant being pulled off the air, as Carr told the network “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) September 18, 2025
Following Kimmel’s suspension, a bevy of reactions have hit the internet, from regular citizens concerned about free speech to fellow late night TV comedians.
Late night TV hosts react to Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air due to pressure from the FCC and Donald Trump
Late night icon David Letterman, for example, just so happened to be making a public apperance on Thursday at The Atlantic Festival, where he shared his thoughts on Kimmel’s suspension.
“It’s ridiculous. You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office, that’s just not how this works. We all see where this going. It’s managed media and it’s no good… The point is beating up on these people, rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately in the name of comedy, not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC.”
David Letterman to Jeffrey Goldberg on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension: “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian—a criminal—administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.” #TAF25 pic.twitter.com/yJxXOXjlj4
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) September 18, 2025
Stephen Colbert, who was also cancelled by CBS due to reasons that some suspect may be political — its parent company, Paramount, is seeking government approval for a multi-billion-dollar merger — admonished ABC for “giving an inch to an autocrat.”
“Tonight, we are all Jimmy Kimmel,” Colbert said at the start of his monologue, saying that his suspension “blatant censorship.”
“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. If ABC thinks this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive, and clearly, they’ve never read the children’s book ‘If You Give a Mouse a Kimmel.’ And to Jimmy, just let me say, I stand with you and your staff 100%.”
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who usually only hosts the show on Monday nights, hopped into the chair on Thursday night for a “patriotically obedient” episode to share his thoughts on the matter.
“Some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smoke screen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principleless and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. Some people would say that, not me though! I think it’s great!” Stewart said in part while hosting The Daily Show.
Late Night host Seth Meyers, whom Donald Trump also recently called to be pulled off the air, directly cited the attacks on free speech in his monologue.
“It is a privilege and an honor to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend, in the same way that it’s a privilege and honor to do this show every night. I wake up every day and I count my blessings that I live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech.”
“Trump promised to end government censorship and bring back free speech and he’s doing the opposite and it has experts worried that we’re rapidly devolving into oppressive autocracy in the style of Russia or Hungary, much faster than anyone could have predicted,” he said.
And then, finally, there was Jimmy Fallon, who reacted to this news in his predictable elementary fashion.
“The big story is that Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by ABC after pressure from the FCC, leaving everyone thinking, ‘WTF?'” Fallon joked at the start of his monologue. “To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on, and no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.”
At this time, Kimmel himself has yet to make a public statement about his suspension.