Much like when CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, late-night hosts are rallying together to show their support for Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was suspended “indefinitely” by ABC on September 17. Colbert and Seth Meyers both released clips early online, acknowledging Kimmel’s suspension just as the president is calling for the cancellation of Meyers’s and Jimmy Fallon’s shows next. “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday evening.
Below, here’s how late-night hosts reacted to Kimmel’s suspension, including Meyers, Colbert, Jon Stewart, Fallon, and more as the evening goes on.
Meyers began his “Closer Look” segment by remembering job security. “Completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here that I’ve always admired and respected Trump,” he stated as the audience laughed. “If you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just A.I.” Towards the end of the segment, Meyers honored his friend and colleague Kimmel as he expressed the importance of free speech. “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,” he explained. “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. We’re going to keep doing our show the way we’ve always done it with enthusiasm and integrity.” Meyers was then interrupted by a farting sound.
Colbert transformed into Lumiere to shed light on Kimmel’s suspension as he sang a new song, “Shut Your Trap” to the tune of “Be Our Guest.” “Don’t insult our great dictator, or he’ll hit you with this turd,” a MAGA Lumiere sings as he points to a picture of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Earlier the same day, he released a short clip from tonight’s show early, in which he quotes Carr, who encouraged people to “push back” on Disney programming that “falls short of community values.” “You know what my community values are, Buster? Freedom of speech,” Colbert shouted. “Or, as Alexander Hamilton called it, ‘Hakuna Matata.’” He loves his Disney references. Later this evening, Colbert will be joined by guests Jake Tapper and David Remnick.
Fallon, after clarifying with his father that the other Jimmy was suspended, not him, tells his crowd that he doesn’t know what is going on, but he knows that his friend Kimmel is “a decent, funny, and loving guy” and he hopes he comes back. The Tonight Show host promises to cover Trump’s visit to the U.K. like he normally would, which, for tonight, means that there was a voice-over for whenever Fallon tried to mention Jeffrey Epstein or added in that Trump looked “handsome.”
Stewart, who subbed in an extra night this week, went with a more playful route to talk about the Kimmel suspension. Throughout the opening segment, he shushed the audience when they laughed a little too loudly at Trump. He pointed out the hypocrisy of misinformation and the “crass” jokes about political violence from conservative news outlets before leading the Daily Show correspondents into a song. “Oh, Donald. We pledge to thee our word from the hottest country in the world,” Stewart sang in a high pitch voice.
This post will continue to be updated.
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