The View Finally Addresses Jimmy Kimmel Controversy amid FCC Threats to ‘Look into’ ABC Series: ‘No One Silences Us’

The View‘s panelists are breaking their silence about the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission suggested the agency should “look into” their talk show program next.

After two consecutive episodes during which the panel did not address ABC’s move to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s long-running late-night program, they are now sharing their thoughts on their network’s decision. On Monday, Sept. 22, panelists Whoopi Goldberg, Ana Navarro, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin shared their opinions on Kimmel’s show being pulled following comments the host made on air about the man who shot Charlie Kirk, the conservative commentator who was killed at a campus event at Utah Valley University.

As Goldberg, 69, opened the show, she revealed that the panel “took a breath to see if Jimmy [Kimmel] was going to say anything about it” first. “I mean, look, did y’all really think we were not gonna talk about Jimmy Kimmel? I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? You know, no one silences us,” she said.

“…We did the same thing with Stephen Colbert. Then, our show was on tape on Friday. But we are live here today,” Goldberg added. “And we’re getting into it now.”

As Goldberg put it, “you can not like a show and it can go off the air” and “someone can say something they shouldn’t and get taken off the air,” but “the government can not apply pressure to force someone to be silenced.”

The View then aired clips of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul disagreeing with the Kimmel controversy. Goldberg added of President Donald Trump: “I don’t understand how you are the man in charge of the nation and you still don’t understand how the First Amendment works.”

After Hostin, 56, agreed that “the president of the United States should know what the freedom of speech means,” Navarro, 53, shared a message for viewers at home.

“For me, I want to start by thanking our loyal viewers for demanding truth and courage from us. You deserve it and we will give it to you,” she said. Last week, the show’s lack of acknowledgment for Kimmel’s late-night pull sparked concerned comments from viewers, many of whom shared their thoughts under The View‘s Instagram posts.

Navarro continued, “The part that I don’t understand that is so ironic to me is how the horrible, senseless assassination of Charlie Kirk — a man I disagreed with — who stood for debate, who stood for freedom of speech, is being used to silence people and cancel people.”

“I don’t understand how in this country, where the First Amendment made to the constitution was to guarantee freedom of the press and freedom of speech, the government itself is using its weight and power to bully and scare people into silence,” she said.

Navarro then detailed her own history living in Nicaragua. “I have to tell you this, I lived through a right-wing dictatorship in Nicaragua… I lived through a left-wing dictatorship… This is what dictators and authoritarians do, it does not matter the ideology,” she said. “At first they come for the people with big platforms, they silence the press. But then they come for all of us, because their intent is to scare us into silence and self-censorship.”

“… A bully always comes back for more,” she added. “They need to stand up and we need to demand the same from ourselves.”

Farah Griffin, 36, also encouraged viewers to “think about the precedent it sets down the road.”

Two days before ABC’s Wednesday, Sept. 17 decision, Kimmel said during his Monday, Sept. 15 monologue that the “MAGA Gang” was “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. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.” He also offered his condolences to Kirk’s family prior to the episode.

His removal followed Nexstar Media’s — the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the U.S — announcement that it would acquire rival broadcast company Tegna for $6.2 billion and place itself in 80% of America’s TV-owning households, per a press release. The acquisition that would require final approval from the Trump-controlled FCC.

Nexstar later said it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”

In the days to follow, FCC Chair Brendan Carr — who praised the decision on social media — later told The Scott Jennings Radio Show on Sept. 18 that it may be “worthwhile” for the agency to take a look at The View next. “When you look at these other TV shows, what’s interesting is the FCC does have a rule called the equal opportunity rule,” Carr said. “But there’s an exception to that rule called the bona fide news exception, which means if you are a bona fide news program, you don’t have to abide by the equal opportunity rule.”

“I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether The View and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place,” he later added.

The latest comments on The View follow the show’s Sept. 18 and Sept. 19 episodes, in which the panel did not address Jimmy Kimmel Live! being pulled.

Amid reports that “chaos” was unfolding behind the scenes of the ABC daytime talk show, a source told PEOPLE on Sept. 19 that was “false.”

“There is no chaos at the show,” the source said. “As always, the team is focused on doing the job of producing a daily talk show and having thoughtful conversations at the table.”

At the end of the Sept. 22 show, Goldberg wished the audience a happy Rosh Hashanah and offered this message: “Don’t give up, we are all in this together and we’re doing it, and we will see you tomorrow, because we will.”