Hundreds of celebrities signed on to a letter backing late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel after ABC suspended his show over remarks he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, and Robert DeNiro are among those calling Kimmel’s suspension a “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation”.
ABC pulled the show indefinitely last week after the chair of the US broadcast regulator threatened action over the comedian’s remarks.
The fallout has prompted a debate over free speech, with critics decrying the move as censorship and assailing ABC and its parent company Disney for appearing to bow to pressure from the Trump administration.
Kimmel delivered a monologue last week in which he expressed condolences to the Kirk family but criticised President Donald Trump and Republicans for their reaction to the assasination.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said.
Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said Kimmel was misleading the American public with his comments.
The motivation and politics of the man charged with killing Kirk, Tyler Robinson, 22, remain unclear, though his mother told police he had become more left-wing over the past year, according to an indictment. Utah Governor Spencer Cox also said Robinson had a “leftist ideology”.
After Kimmel’s suspension, US President Donald Trump, who appointed Carr at the beginning of his second term, praised the decison.
Trump later said broadcast TV networks do not treat him fairly and could have their licences “taken away”.
“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,” the celebrities’ letter says. “This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation.”
Actors Alan Cumming and Florence Pugh also signed the letter spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
They say many others are facing “direct attacks on their freedom of expression”, including teachers, government employees, researchers and students, and are adding their voices to defend free speech.
Kimmel’s fellow late-night US hosts lashed out at his suspension last week amid Trump’s escalating threats to broadcast networks.
CBS announced in July that it is cancelling The Late Show hosted by Stephen Colbert, something it called “purely a financial decision”, though some linked the move to a looming merger involving CBS’s parent company that requires US regulatory approval.
Kimmel, who is among the top talk show personalities in the US, emceed the Oscars four times and has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2003.
ABC pulled the plug after Nextstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, said its stations would not air the show “for the foreseeable future”.