US politicians and celebrities are lashing out at news that Jimmy Kimmel’s namesake late night show was “indefinitely” pulled off the air earlier today.
ICYMI, the American Broadcasting Company said the decision to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the “foreseeable future” was in response to comments the host made about the death of Charlie Kirk during an opening monologue he delivered earlier this week.
The ABC said it “strongly objects” to Kimmel’s claim that Kirk’s suspected killer, Tyler Robinson, was a supporter of the MAGA movement.
“The MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said during the monologue.
In the fallout, ABC announced plans to replace Kimmel’s late night slot with “other programming”, with scores of notable names now weighing in on social media.
On the political side, the news caught the attention of US President and long-running Kimmel nemesis Donald Trump, who hailed the cancellation as “great news for America” in a post on Truth Social.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent,” Trump wrote, before putting Kimmel’s late night peers, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, on notice.
“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!” he wrote in reference to the pair’s network.
On the opposing end, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the move as an attack on free speech, saying the Trump administration is “buying and controlling media platforms”, “firing commentators” and “censoring you in real time”.
That sentiment was echoed by many of Kimmel’s Hollywood pals, with Ben Stiller saying the cancellation “isn’t right” and Wanda Sykes — who was supposed to be a guest on the forthcoming episode — saying Trump “end[ed] freedom of speech within his first year”.
Elsewhere, Jean Smart, who appeared opposite Kimmel in Hacks, wrote that she was “horrified” by the show’s axing and said the host exercised “FREE speech, not hate speech”.
“People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda … What is happening to our country?” Smart wrote.
In a now-deleted post, Beetlejuice star Michael Keaton asked networks including ABC to “stand the fuck up!” while Kathy Griffin — who has caught the ire of Trump in the past — said “it is very important to have Jimmy Kimmel‘s back right now”.
Meanwhile, Michael Kosta, the co-host of fellow late night show,The Daily Show, pointed to the First Amendment on his Instagram Stories, describing Kimmel’s cancellation as “complete BS” and urging networks to “push back”.
Kimmel’s hiatus comes just two months after The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was cancelled amid similar concerns of being politically motivated.
While Kimmel has yet to respond to the news himself, his track record of trading barbs with Trump suggests that something scathing is probably on its way. Watch this space.
Lead images: YouTube, Truth Social, X, Instagram
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