By Kitty Chrisp
Copyright metro
David Letterman gave an update on Jimmy Kimmel’s reaction to his show being suspended (Picture: ABC)
David Letterman has provided an update on Jimmy Kimmel’s reaction following his suspension after his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.
Broadcaster ABC yesterday announced Jimmy Kimmel Live had been pulled ‘indefinitely’ following comments made by the presenter about the assassination of right wing influencer Kirk.
The American TV host, 78, spoke to Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic Festival in New York and called the suspension a ‘misery’ and part of a ‘world of someone who’s an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship’, reports the Daily Mail.
‘It’s ridiculous. 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,’ he said on Thursday.
Giving an update on Kimmel, Letterman – who previously hosted Late Night – said he was ‘sitting up in bed taking nourishment. He’s going to be fine’.
Letterman has been in touch with Kimmel since the suspension (Picture: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Kimmel had presented the show since 2003 (Picture: Media Access Awards Presented By Easterseals/Getty Images for Easterseals)
Letterman observed that his show lived through six Presidents, and despite them ripping into those governments ‘mercilessly’ he was never pulled from air.
‘Beating up on these people, rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately, in the name of comedy, not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC,’ he said, in reference to the independent agency of the US government that regulates the media.
Conservative activist Kirk was fatally shot last week while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem.
The 31-year-old had been credited with energising the Republican youth movement and helping Donald Trump win the 2024 election, with the accused shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, making his first court appearance this week.
On Monday’s episode of the show – which Kimmel has hosted since 2003 – Kimmel said the following about Kirk’s alleged killer: ‘We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.’
According to Trump, Kimmel was actually suspended because he is ‘not a talented individual.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Up Next
Previous Page
Next Page
He said in Thursday afternoon’s press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer: ‘Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.’
He continued: ‘And Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person and he had bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago, so you can call that free speech or not, he was fired for lack of talent.’
Taking to social media, Trump also said: ‘Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.
‘That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC.’
Contrary to Trump’s claim, the news of the show being pulled off the air came after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the United States, said it would not broadcast the show after Kimmel’s comments about Kirk.
Meanwhile, Hollywood stars and famous faces have rushed to support Kimmel.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Up Next
Previous Page
Next Page
Barack Obama called the move ‘dangerous’, as he wrote on X: ‘After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.’
The former President added: ‘This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.’
Writing on X, Ben Stiller reposted the news of ABC taking Kimmel off the air and said: ‘This isn’t right.’
Jamie Lee Curtis, 66, also reposted a photo of Kimmel to her Instagram Story with a quote attributed to the comedian, saying: ‘I don’t think anybody should be canceled. I really don’t.’
Following his suspension, SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America have released statements condemning Kimmel’s suspension.
‘The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms,’ they said.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
