© Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
People feel very strongly about Jimmy Kimmel these days. Earlier this week, Kimmel found himself at the center of a firestorm after he made a joke about President Trump’s reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
“The MAGA gang are desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,
“In between the finger-pointing, there was, uh, grieving on Friday − the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK? And it didn’t just happen once.”
Jimmy Kimmel claims "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 doing everything they can to score political points from it" and "This is not how an adult… pic.twitter.com/KMhnskaYWD
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) September 16, 2025
Days after his comments FCC chairman Brandan Carr threatened to punish ABC if they didn’t pull Kimmel’s show. Disney also received pressure from large ABC affiliates which led them to suspend Kimmel for the time being.
On Thursday night, a Moveon.org petition to reinstate Kimmel went viral, and has garnered over 100,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
“This isn’t just about one late-show host. It’s about the ability of people—whether they’re high-profile media hosts like Kimmel or everyday Americans—to use their platform to speak out against the government.”
“Kimmel’s suspension comes on the heels of CBS and Paramount Global’s firing of popular and Emmy-winning late-show host Stephen Colbert. From slashing funding for public television and NPR to the firing of media personalities, the Trump administration wants to control what Americans hear and watch. It wants to strip away access to a diversity of news and information sources so that it can control the narrative.”
“This is a dangerous slide into authoritarianism, and we have to resist every step of the way. Add your name to the petition now.”
When calling out politicians gets you silenced, democracy itself is the punchline. Sign the petition to demand ABC and Disney reinstate Jimmy Kimmel and stop caving to authoritarian censorship:
It’s currently unclear what the future holds for Kimmel at ABC, but it appears that he has plenty of supporters on his side despite the massive backlash.