Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night counterparts are showing their support for him.
On Thursday night, every other mainstream late-night host made comments about the Jimmy Kimmel Live! star in the wake of his show getting pulled by ABC following comments the longtime host made about the shooting of political pundit Charlie Kirk. And even though these other hosts are technically competitors with Kimmel in the land of late-night TV ratings, they all put the competitive streak aside to back the principles of free speech.
Related: Here’s What The View Talked About Following Jimmy Kimmel Being Pulled Off The Air
So, without further ado, here’s what they all had to say…
Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon kicked things off over on The Tonight Show, staring his opening monologue with:
“Well guys, the big story is that Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by ABC after pressure from the FCC, leaving everyone thinking WTF.”
Then, Fallon continued:
“This morning I woke up to 100 text messages from my dad saying, ‘I’m sorry they canceled your show.’ I go, ‘That’s not me, that’s Jimmy Kimmel.’ But to be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on and no one does, but I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he is a decent, loving and funny guy, and I hope he comes back.”
He then transitioned his focus to president Donald Trump with this commentary about the leader having visited the UK:
“A lot of people are worried that we won’t keep saying what we want to say or that we’ll be censored, but I’m going to cover the president’s trip to the UK like I normally would. Here we go. Well guys, President Trump just wrapped up his three-day trip to the UK and he looked…”
But Fallon’s voice trailed off, and in its wake, the show announcer cut in to add this about the president:
“Incredibly handsome.”
Jimmy tried once again:
“As always, his tie was…”
Before the show announcer cut him off one more time:
“Exactly the right length.”
Jimmy then tried a third time:
“And his hair looked…”
As the announcer once again interrupted him with a compliment for Trump:
“Better than Conrad’s from The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
And there was a fourth attempt, too! Jimmy said:
“During the trip, protesters managed to project images onto the sides of Windsor Castle of Trump, standing next to his good friend Jeff…”
Before the show’s announcer added:
“Goldblum.”
You can watch the full moment for yourself (below):
Seth Meyers
As for Seth Meyers, he discussed Kimmel and ABC’s decision with first making fun of his own not-so-chummy history with the commander in chief:
“I just want to say before we get started here, that I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump. I’ve always believed he was a visionary, an innovator, a great president and even better golfer. If you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just AI. I’m told there’s some clips of me on the internet making jokes about him from a few years back. Those are obviously deepfakes.”
Funny!
But on a serious note, Meyers did vow to “keep doing our show the way we’ve always done it, with enthusiasm and integrity.” And then he added:
“It is a privilege and an honor to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend, in the same way that it’s a privilege and honor to do this show every night. I wake up every day and I count my blessings that I live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Meyers called the pulling of Kimmel’s late-night series a “pivotal moment in our democracy.” He went on:
“We must all stand up for the principles of free expression. There is a reason free speech is in the very first amendment. It stands above all others.”
And Seth also gave a thought about what might come next as far as Trump is concerned:
“Trump promised to end government censorship and bring back free speech and he’s doing the opposite, and it has experts worried that we’re rapidly devolving into oppressive autocracy in the style of Russia or Hungary, much faster than anyone could have predicted.”
Watch his full segment (below):
Stephen Colbert
And then there was Stephen Colbert.
Remember, Colbert has had his own issues with Trump… to say the least. So, when it was time for Colbert to open up his late-night hour, he began by saying:
“I’m your host, Stephen Colbert, but tonight, we are all Jimmy Kimmel.”
Colbert then went on to criticize ABC for going with what Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr pushed upon them with the Kimmel cut. Colbert described Carr as an “individually wrapped hard-boiled egg that they sell at the airport.” He also said:
“If ABC thinks that this is gonna satisfy the regime, they’re woefully naive. This is blatant censorship. … With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100 percent.”
Then, Colbert quipped that Kimmel just had to steal headlines from him after the former Daily Show star won an Emmy last week:
“You couldn’t let me enjoy this for just one week? Come on!”
LOLz!
Stephen later made a crack about Trump’s litigious ways:
“This whole thing is the latest and boldest action in a long campaign against media critics. Trump has personally sued ABC, CBS, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Des Moines Register and his bathroom scale.”
And after his show’s first commercial break, Stephen came back with one more reference to Carr and the FCC:
“Welcome back to The Late Show. Are we still on the air? Apparently Brendan Carr has not seen tonight’s episode yet.”
Watch all that (below):
Lots to take in!
Thoughts, y’all? Share ’em (below)…
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