The co-hosts of The View have finally spoken out about the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show following his comments about slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
ABC announced Wednesday, just hours before its nightly broadcast, that Jimmy Kimmel Live! was being pulled “indefinitely” following the host’s controversial remarks about the identity of Tyler Robinson, the suspected gunman behind conservative activist Kirk’s September 10 killing.
The View — which, like Kimmel’s late-night show, also airs on ABC — was conspicuously silent about Kimmel’s suspension during its Thursday and Friday broadcasts, leading fans to believe the network urged the co-hosts to remain silent on the matter.
However, Monday’s episode began with co-host Whoopi Goldberg acknowledging the elephant in the room: “Did y’all really think we weren’t going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel? I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? No one silences us.
“When the news broke last week about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, we took a breath to see if Jimmy was going to say anything about it first,” Goldberg continued. “You cannot like a show and it can go off the air. Someone can say something they shouldn’t and get taken off the air. But the government cannot apply pressure to force someone to be silenced.”
Co-host Ana Navarro added: “I don’t understand how in this country, where the First Amendment was made to the Constitution to guarantee freedom of the press and freedom of speech, how the government itself is using its weight and power to bully and scare people into silence.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin then chimed in: “The First Amendment is the first for a reason, because you need to be able to hold those in power accountable.”
Goldberg wrapped up the conversation by saying: “We talk about freedom of speech a lot because we are always in somebody’s mess because somebody has decided that we have said something that’s offensive. But we fight for everybody’s right to have freedom of speech because it means my speech is free, it means your speech is free.”
Kimmel’s suspension has sparked a massive debate over free speech, with several current and former late-night talk show hosts wading in, including David Letterman.
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“I feel bad about this,” Letterman said Thursday at The Atlantic Festival 2025 in New York. “We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And 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.
“The institution of the president of the United States ought to be bigger than a guy doing a talk show,” he added, noting that Kimmel’s removal “was predicted by our president right after Stephen Colbert got walked off, so you’re telling me this isn’t premeditated at some level?”
Another late-night host, Conan O’Brien, said: “The suspension of [Jimmy Kimmel] and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Right, Left, and Center. It’s wrong and anyone with a conscience knows it’s wrong.”
Meanwhile, the silence from The View’s co-hosts during the Thursday and Friday episodes came as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said it may be “worthwhile” to investigate whether the show is violating broadcast rules.
Speaking Thursday on The Scott Jennings Show, Carr questioned whether The View, often perceived as having a liberal bias, still qualifies as a “bona fide news show,” a status that matters because, under the equal opportunity rule, broadcasters must offer equal time to political candidates unless a program is deemed news.
“Potentially, I would assume you can make the argument that The View is a bona fide news show, but I'm not so sure about that,” Carr said. “And I think it's worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether The View and some of these other programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.”
The Independent has reached out to ABC and The View for comment.
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