The reactions to ABC’s decision reflected the partisan divide that was laid bare in the days since Kirk was killed.
Nicholas Scutti, 33, of Hollywood, California, was among the fewer than 10 protesters who gathered outside Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday evening. An aspiring comedy writer, he said that ABC’s decision to indefinitely take the program off the air had hit him particularly hard, and prompted him to join a public show of disapproval.
“I think it is important to speak up now because if people don’t speak up now, it will be harder to speak up later,” he said.
Connor Lattery, 22, of Burbank, California, was in line for a premiere screening of “HIM,” a new football-themed horror film, at the TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from Kimmel’s studio. He said he was “shocked” by ABC’s announcement.
“Seeing the clip that they’re canceling him over, it seemed like a little bit of an extreme decision,” he said.
Heidie Garcia, 21, who had driven from near Long Beach, California, and was also waiting to see the film, was less surprised. “We can’t say anything anymore — everything is being censored,” she said.
On social media, many conservatives considered ABC’s decision an overdue reckoning for a comedian they had long criticized, while President Donald Trump’s critics tied the decision — which they denounced as being prodded by the government — to what they see as the administration’s larger efforts to curb free expression.
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said he did not believe Kimmel’s removal was an example of “cancel culture.” He said that “when a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it, that’s not cancel culture. That is consequences for your actions.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on social platform X on Wednesday that the Republican pressure campaign on media companies to fire commentators, cancel shows and assert control over media platforms was a “coordinated” and “dangerous” attack on the First Amendment.
“The @GOP does not believe in free speech,” Newsom wrote. “They are censoring you in real time.”
Tommy Vietor, a former national security spokesperson in the administration of President Barack Obama and a host of the liberal political podcast “Pod Save America,” called the suspension of Kimmel’s show “absurd.” If Kimmel made a factual error, he should correct it, Vietor said on X, but “suspending or canceling the show is a wild overreaction.”
Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who was scheduled to debate Kirk this month, said on X that corporations were “instantly folding” to the Trump administration, and called on liberals to fight back.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., urged people to mobilize in response to the pulling of Kimmel’s show and accused Trump of using Kirk’s death to silence his opponents.
“If you don’t raise your voices right now about the assault on free speech, about Donald Trump’s decision to, disgustingly, exploit the murder of Charlie Kirk so as to try to permanently render powerless and impotent those who politically oppose him, there may be no democracy to save a year from now,” he said in a video posted to social media.
The pause on Kimmel’s show came about two months after CBS announced that it was canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which runs in the same time slot as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The cancellation of Colbert’s show similarly drew widespread criticism from fans.
At the time, CBS said the cancellation was a “purely financial decision” and not related to Colbert’s politics, which, as with Kimmel’s, are staunchly opposed to Trump’s. Colbert and Kimmel frequently make jokes about right-wing politics on their shows, and often use their opening monologues to criticize the Trump administration.
Trump applauded ABC’s move in a social media post from Britain, where he is on a state visit, calling it “Great News for America” and urging NBC to take the same step with its late-night lineup.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump said. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
Other voices from the right also chimed in on social media.
Mark Levin, a conservative commentator, said that Kimmel should have been “canned a long time ago.”
“Better late than never,” Levin said.
Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor turned YouTube host, speculated about the response from viewers to Kimmel’s monologue.
“Just think for a minute about the amount of IRATE mail/viewer feedback they must have gotten to do this,” Kelly said in a post on X.
Shortly before the show’s preemption was announced Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, called Kimmel a “disgrace” in a post on X.