Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night peers have offered their two cents days after his namesake show was “indefinitely” pulled off the air over his comments about Charlie Kirk.
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ICYMI, the late-night circuit — and Hollywood more broadly — was thrown into a tizzy earlier this week, when studio execs abruptly announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would stop airing “for the foreseeable future” after Kimmel mentioned Kirk’s death in an opening monologue.
Kirk, a far-right political commentator, was shot dead while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University earlier this month.
Kimmel’s shock cancellation immediately ignited a firestorm of commentary about free speech — including from stars like Jean Smart and Ben Stiller — as ABC and Disney, the companies behind the show, were accused of censoring voices critical of the Trump administration and the MAGA movement writ large.
Now, Kimmel’s fellow late-night staples have weighed in, rallying behind the cancelled host while getting some cheeky (yet cautious) jabs in at Trump’s expense.
First to break the silence was Jon Stewart, who used a segment on The Daily Show to jokingly bend the knee to Trump — whom he called “our great father” — out of fear that he too might be axed.
Whenever the audience reacted negatively to a mention of Trump, Stewart would sarcastically tell them to “shut up” because “you’re going to fucking blow this for us”.
Jimmy Fallon was a little less cheeky in his response, admitting during his opening monologue on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he’s unsure of his future following Kimmel’s TV departure.
“To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on and no one does,” the *other* late-night Jimmy said. “But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.”
Fallon then proceeded to let loose on Trump, but with a voiceover that replaced his apparent insults with compliments. So much for no longer joking about Trump, Jimmy!
For his part, Seth Meyers tried a similar tack, gushing excessively about Trump and claiming anything negative he has previously said about the president was “just AI”.
“I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump,” Meyers said with a wink to audience laughter. “I’ve always believed he was a visionary, innovator, a great president [and] an even better golfer,” he quipped.
Meyers later struck a more serious tone, saying he “count[s] my blessings that I live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech” and vowing to “keep doing our show the way we’ve always done it: with enthusiasm and integrity”.
Meyers and Fallon are perhaps rightfully shaking in their boots, since Trump directly name-dropped the pair as being “next” in the firing line when celebrating news of Kimmel’s axing earlier this week.
Of all the late-night hosts, it was Stephen Colbert who held the least punches, most likely because he’s already been fired for what some deemed to be political reasons under the Trump administration.
“This is blatant censorship,” Colbert said of Kimmel’s ouster during his opening monologue.
Colbert — whose show was cancelled just two months ago — went on to blast Trump as an “autocrat” and express solidarity with Kimmel.
“Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100 percent,” he said.
It wasn’t only those with a current TV slot who reacted to the news, with former late-night host Conan O’Brien saying the cancellation “should disturb everyone on the right, left, and centre” and Jay Leno saying he’s “on Jimmy Kimmel’s side”.
Kimmel’s TV future remains unclear, with ABC replacing his slot with affiliate programs and saying it “strongly objects to” Kimmel’s comments about Kirk and his suspected killer, Tyler Robinson.
During that monologue, Kimmel said: “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.”
“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving,” he added.
In the fallout, Kimmel was given a list demands by ABC’s affiliate operator, Sinclair, to fulfil in order to return to TV, including issuing a direct apology to the Kirk family and making a personal donation to his conservative political organisation, Turning Point USA.
Kimmel has yet to publicly respond to the cancellation, but I for one will be well and truly sat for his first monologue back on screens. That is, if it ever happens.
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