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Late-night hosts rallied around Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday night after ABC suspended the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" host indefinitely following his comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Mainstream late-night comedians Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart denounced Kimmel being pulled off the air, and accused President Donald Trump of using his political influence to censor him.
"Welcome back to ‘The Late Show!’ We still on the air?" Colbert asked during his opening monologue on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." "Fantastic. Apparently, Brendan Carr has not seen tonight’s episode yet."
Late-night hosts accused the Trump administration of censoring ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel this week. (Mario Tama / Getty)
"Ladies and gentlemen, we live in unsettling times, with rising autocracy targeting America’s most vulnerable — talk show hosts," he added.
Colbert and other liberal commentators have argued that Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr put pressure on ABC to suspend Kimmel this week for his comment about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The ABC host said Monday of Kirk’s suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson: "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."
This was despite reports Robinson had a left-wing ideology.
Appearing on Wednesday's "The Benny Show," Carr called Kimmel's comments "some of the sickest conduct" and suggested there were potential "avenues" the FCC could pursue to hold ABC accountable for them.
Also, that day, Nexstar Media Group, which owns hundreds of television stations, announced it would preempt Kimmel's show on its ABC affiliates starting Wednesday night "for the foreseeable future" and would replace it with other programming due to his Kirk comments.
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" has been suspended indefinitely by Disney this week. (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
Following Nexstar’s announcement, ABC’s parent company, Disney, revealed it was pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely.
Carr weighing in on Kimmel’s comments convinced many liberals that the Trump administration had pulled strings to get Kimmel suspended, calling it government censorship.
Stewart, who returned to Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show" as a special guest host Thursday night, mocked the administration by imitating a North Korean-style propagandist.
"We have another fun, hilarious, administration-compliant show," Stewart said at the top of the program. Sitting in front of a gilded, Trump-esque background, he mentioned Trump’s recent trip to the U.K.
"If you felt a little off these past couple of days, it’s probably because our great father has not been home. For Father has been gracing England with his legendary warmth and radiance. Gaze upon him with a gait even more majestic than that of the royal horses that pranced before him."
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Charlie Kirk poses at The Cambridge Union on May 19, 2025, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)
On NBC, "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon accused the FCC of pressuring ABC to cancel Kimmel.
"The big story is that Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by ABC after pressure from the FCC, leaving everyone thinking: WTF?" the host said, elsewhere adding, "But to be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on — no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he is a decent, funny and loving guy. And I hope he comes back."
Fallon also did a bit narrating Trump’s trip to the U.K., overdubbed with a voice praising Trump. At one point, the narration said Trump "looked incredibly handsome."
On NBC’s "Late Night with Seth Meyers," the host stated that Trump’s administration is "pursuing a crackdown on free speech."
"And completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here, that I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump," he continued sarcastically. "I’ve always believed he was a visionary, an innovator, a great president, an even better golfer. And if you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just A.I."
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Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
