Jimmy Kimmel: Stars From ABC, Hulu, Disney+ And Many More Sign ACLU Letter Protesting Late-Night Host's Suspension
Hundreds of celebrities, including some currently starring on ABC, Hulu and Disney+ series, signed an open letter protesting Jimmy Kimmel Live!'s recent indefinite preemption from ABC.
The letter originates from the American Civil Liberties Union and starts: "We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech. Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country." (Read it in full.)
Among the note's 400 signatories are celebrities like Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) and Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs), as well as actors affiliated with ABC, Disney+ and/or Hulu series or movies, including Grey's Anatomy's Jason George; Only Murders in the Building's Martin Short, Meryl Streep and Selena Gomez; The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal; Agatha All Along's Kathryn Hahn; The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jamie Lee Curtis; and Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The missive is in response to ABC's move to take the late-night show off the air after Kimmel's Sept. 15 monologue, in which he spoke about the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and accused the "MAGA gang" of trying to characterize Tyler Robinson, who has been charged with the killing, as "anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."
Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr then indicated that stations airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! needed to "change conduct and take action" or face penalty. Nexstar Media Group then pulled the show from its 33 ABC affiliates, and ABC announced the show would be "preempted indefinitely" soon after.
"Nexstar's owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight's show," Nexstar said in a statement at the time. "Nexstar 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."
Prior to the ACLU letter, several of Kimmel's late-night brethren — including John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon — and former President Barack Obama publicly came to his defense.
Update (Monday, Sept. 22 at 3:30 pm ET): The Walt Disney Company has lifted Kimmel's suspension. New episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! resume Tuesday on ABC.