Recently, we felt absolutely shocked to hear that Jimmy Kimmel’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been suspended “indefinitely” in response to comments that Kimmel had made about the death of Charlie Kirk and the right’s response to it. After all, it is a late-night comedian’s literal job to critique and criticize the ongoing happenings in our country and political environment. The abrupt removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live! over his words was unprecedented in the worst way. But despite this example, other late-night hosts are using their platforms to continue to defend Jimmy Kimmel and free speech and to criticize the decision made to shut down the show over a host’s remarks. You can watch below Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart’s immediate response to the removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and their thoughts about the danger such a decision holds.
Stephen Colbert brought back his “Colbert Report” Comedy Central character the week after Kimmel’s cancellation. He took on the persona of Stephen Colbert, the political pundit. Noting, “Hello, nation… Daddy’s home.” And in his speech as Colbert Report‘s Colbert, he did not mince words, offering that he believed we were in a “free-speech crisis.” “Give up, America. Just give up and stop saying anything that might upset the president,” Colbert delivered passionately. “If you think that’s a terrible idea, no you don’t.” You can watch Colbert’s full segment below.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled by CBS earlier this year. The decision came shortly after Stephen Colbert accused CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, of taking a “big fat bribe.” No overt reason has been given for the cancellation. But we feel curious to see whether Colbert’s comments about Kimmel will face any response.
Joining Colbert in his commentary over Kimmel and free speech was late-night host Seth Meyers. On Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers began by confirming that he and his team were “going to keep doing our show the way we’ve always done it with enthusiasm and integrity.” And noted that this was a “pivotal moment in our democracy…We must all stand up for the principles of free expression. There is a reason free speech is in the very first amendment. It stands above all others.” You can watch Meyers’ full thoughts on Kimmel, free speech, and more below.
Finally, Jon Stewart, who hosts Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, made an unusual appearance on a Thursday night (he typically hosts on Mondays) to comment on the current Kimmel situation on the late-night show. Stewart took a tongue-in-cheek approach to the situation, not naming Kimmel or anyone else by name, but sharing that The Daily Show was now an “administration-compliant show.” And sarcastically monologed that “Our great administration has laid out very clear rules on free speech. Some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and utilitarian intimidation, principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. Some people would say that. Not me, though, I think it’s great!”
As all these famous late-night talk show hosts, whose careers have been formed by skewering political figures across parties for DECADES, gather in support of Kimmel and free speech, it remains to be seen what will transpire across the landscape. Will their platforms remain or become “indefinitely removed,” and what does free speech mean if the latter situation occurs?
Late-night talk show hosts are not the only ones to comment on the intensifying Kimmel situation. Among those who have spoken out about recent events are the Writer’s Guild of America, who shared its own response. The Guild writes, “As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree… Silencing us impoverishes the whole world. The WGA stands with Jimmy Kimmel and his writers.”
It’s also important to recall that not only is Kimmel out of a job at this point, but a whole staff of people who run the TV series.
We’d really like some precedented times, please.