NEED TO KNOW
- Jon Stewart has broken his silence on Jimmy Kimmel Live! being pulled off the air
- Stewart and The Daily Show team responded by airing a “government-approved” version of the show, reimagining it as something that would please President Donald Trump
- On Wednesday, Sept. 17, an ABC spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE that Kimmel’s late-night show would be pulled indefinitely
Jon Stewart is speaking out following Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show being pulled off the air.
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, an ABC spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be pulled “indefinitely.” The decision was a result of comments the host made during his Sept. 15 monologue about Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
Stewart hosted the Thursday, Sept. 18 episode of The Daily Show in order to respond to ABC’s decision, despite only hosting Monday episodes recently. The comedian and the show’s writers reimagined the entire episode to show what they believe a “government-approved” Daily Show would be like.
Halfway through the episode, as he recounted President Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K. this week, Stewart reached Trump’s comments on Kimmel, specifically noting how Trump said Kimmel was fired for “lack of talent.”
“You may call it free speech in jolly old England, but in America, we have a little thing called the first amendment, and let me tell you how it works,” Stewart began, before explaining what a “talent-o-meter” is. Stewart said it was a device on the president’s desk that lets him know when a performer’s TQ — “talent quotient, measured mostly by niceness to the president” — goes below a certain level.
“At which point, the FCC must be notified to threaten the acquisition prospects for billion-dollar mergers of network affiliates,” Stewart rambled quickly. “These affiliates are then asked to give ultimatums to even larger mega corporation that controls the flow of state-approved content. Or the FCC can just choose to threaten those licenses directly. It’s basic science.”
Later on, Stewart said, “I don’t know who this… this… Johnny Drimmel Live ABC character is. But the point is, our great administration has laid out very clear rules on free speech.”
“Now, some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. Some people would say that,” Stewart said before nervously adding, “Not me, though… I think it’s great.”
On the Sept. 15 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel mentioned Kirk in his monologue as he commented on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” supporters. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said.
He had previously offered his condolences to Kirk’s family on social media, writing, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
Nexstar Media, which owns and operates more than 200 local television stations across 116 U.S. markets, said in a statement to PEOPLE that it “strongly objects” to Kimmel’s comments on Kirk.
In an additional statement, Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, called Kimmel’s comments “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.”
Alford said that allowing Kimmel’s show to continue airing is “not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
Nexstar recently announced plans to acquire rival broadcast company Tegna for $6.2 billion, a massive deal that would further consolidate the local television landscape and put Nexstar in 80% of America’s TV-owning households, according to a press release. The acquisition will require final approval from the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr quickly praised Nexstar on Wednesday for putting pressure on ABC to remove Kimmel, writing on X that “it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”
In response to the news, opposition has poured in from across Hollywood, with stars including Henry Winkler, Jason Bateman, Kathy Griffin and Ben Stiller weighing in.
Comedian Wanda Sykes, who was scheduled to appear on Kimmel Wednesday night, said in a video posted on Instagram, “Let’s see. He didn’t end the Ukraine war or solve Gaza within his first week. But he did end freedom of speech within his first year. Hey, for those of you who pray, now’s the time to do it. Love you, Jimmy.”
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Chris Hayes called it “the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I’ve ever seen in my life” in a post on X, while Jean Smart said she’s “horrified” by the news in an Instagram post.
“What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda. Though I didn’t agree at ALL with Charlie Kirk; his shooting death sickened me; and should have sickened any decent human being. What is happening to our country?” Smart wrote.
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