By Faye James

Copyright hellomagazine

Jimmy Kimmel has broken his silence in the wake of the shocking news that his late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has been put on an indefinite hiatus following his comments about conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk. Several celebrities have come out in support of the 57-year-old, who has hosted the show since 2003 and was a vocal critic of Donald Trump. David Letterman, legendary TV personality and host of The Late Show from 1993 to 2015, shared that he had been in contact with Jimmy, and revealed how he was dealing with the news.

The 78-year-old spoke at the Atlantic Festival in New York City and explained that he had texted Jimmy to check up on him. “He’s up in bed, taking nourishment. He’s going to be fine,” David said, per Variety. He went on to discuss how monumental the decision to axe the show was, with Jimmy being one of the top-rated late-night hosts.

“This is misery,” he lamented. “I feel bad about this. 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,” David said, adding that Jimmy’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?” Stephen, who was David’s successor on The Late Show, revealed that the series would come to an end in May 2026.

David then quipped that during his tenure on The Late Show, he had joked about six presidents on the air, and “not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency.” Jimmy performed a monologue on his show on Monday night, suggesting that far-right figures were trying to pin the death of Charlie Kirk onto the political left, after the podcaster was shot and killed at a university event in Utah.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Jimmy said. He then pointed out that Donald Trump’s response to Charlie’s death was odd; when the President was asked his thoughts on the tragedy days later, he decided to discuss the White House ballroom construction instead.

“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?” the comedian quipped. Nexstar Media Group put pressure on ABC to take action against Jimmy due to what they claimed were “offensive” remarks, prompting the network to put the show on pause indefinitely.

Several high-profile celebrities and politicians have spoken out against ABC’s actions, including former President Barack Obama. “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,” he wrote via X.

“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.” Meanwhile, Donald took to Truth Social to celebrate Jimmy’s departure, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. 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!!!”