Hollywood stars, unions and fans have criticized Disney’s ABC for indefinitely pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air after pressure from the Federal Communications Commission over his comments about the death of Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel criticized Republicans and the MAGA movement in his monologue Monday night and ABC announced it was axing the show Wednesday, hours after FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action.”
The move drew praise from President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans. But Hollywood, where Kimmel is popular as a frequent host of the Oscars and Emmys, leapt to to his defense.
“This isn’t right,” Ben Stiller said in a post on X. Actor Jamie Lee Curtis, who had spoken emotionally about Kirk’s death, shared an image of Kimmel and and a supportive quote on Instagram.
Comedian Wanda Sykes also said in an Instagram video that while Trump had not brokered an end to the wars in Gaza or Ukraine, “he did end freedom of speech within his first year.”
Actress Jean Smart shared a picture of her with Kimmel on Instagram and said she was “horrified” by the show’s cancellation.
“What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda,” she said.
Comedian Michael Kosta, a rotating host on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” said on his Instagram story Wednesday night: “This is a serious moment in American history. TV networks MUST push back. This is complete BS.”
Unions representing writers and actors — The Writers Guild of America, The American Federation of Musicians and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — condemned the show’s indefinite cancellation as an attack on free speech.
Tommy Williams was just about to walk in to see the filming of Wednesday’s edition of the show — only to find out it had been canceled.
“They waited to pull the plug on this right as the studio audience was about to walk in,” he told The Associated Press news agency. He said he wasn’t at all aware of Kimmel’s comments on Kirk.
“Then I went to go look to see what those comments were and they didn’t really seem to justify, you know, the means, you know, it seemed to be a bit extreme.”
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit based in Philadelphia, said on X that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr had abused his position and had spuriously invoked the public interest standard to “selectively target speech the government dislikes.”
Earlier FIRE said on X, “The government pressured ABC — and ABC caved.”
The outrage over ABC’s decision looked set to spill over into the streets Thursday afternoon with a protest planned outside the El Capitan Entertainment Center in Hollywood, where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is filmed, organized by the group Refuse Fascism.