{"id":157147,"date":"2025-09-24T08:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/157147\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T08:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:21:07","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-calls-out-anti-american-threats-to-free-speech-in-tearful-tv-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/157147\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel calls out &#8216;anti-American&#8217; threats to free speech in tearful TV return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It was, however, available on streaming service Hulu + Live TV, owned by Disney &#8211; which is also the parent of ABC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Dozens of local TV stations in the US run by affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair said they would continue to replace Jimmy Kimmel Live! with alternate programming for now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Carr &#8211; who leads the organisation that regulates American television &#8211; praised their decision in a post on X on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We need to keep empowering local TV stations to serve their communities of license,&#8221; said Carr, a Trump appointee, who last week threatened action against Disney and ABC, the companies that produce and air Kimmel&#8217;s show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Speaking on Tuesday&#8217;s programme, Kimmel said he had not wanted to blame any specific group for Kirk&#8217;s murder, and praised Erika Kirk for forgiving her husband&#8217;s alleged killer at a weekend memorial service. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It was a selfless act of grace&#8230; that touched me deeply,&#8221; Kimmel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Kimmel was critical of Carr, who was one of the first to call for his suspension, saying that the FCC chair boss was once a free speech advocate, but flipped after Kimmel&#8217;s controversial show last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He also criticised Trump for calling for the axing of his fellow late-night hosts \u2013\u00a0all who are frequent critics of the president as they riff on the day&#8217;s biggest news stories. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Our leader celebrates people losing their livelihoods because he can&#8217;t take a joke,&#8221; Kimmel said, adding that Trump openly rooting for people to lose their jobs was &#8220;un-American&#8221; and &#8220;dangerous&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Kimmel also pretended to open a statement written for him to read aloud by Disney, before reading out the words: &#8220;How to reactivate your Disney+ subscription&#8221;. There had been calls to cancel streaming subscriptions over Kimmel&#8217;s brief suspension. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The comedian&#8217;s comeback was praised by celebrity supporters, including actor Ben Stiller, who lauded his &#8220;brilliant monologue&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But Kimmel&#8217;s return was not universally applauded. About an hour before showtime, Trump said on his social media platform that he could not believe that ABC had reinstated the comedian, saying the White House was told the show was cancelled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his &#8216;talent&#8217; was never there,&#8221; Trump wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Trump also threatened to &#8220;test ABC out on this&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Kimmel&#8217;s Tuesday night guests were Twisters and Chad Powers actor Glen Powell  and musical guest Sarah McLachlan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He was also joined by Hollywood legend and notable Trump critic Robert De Niro, who appeared in a skit in which he portrayed Carr. &#8220;Speech, it ain&#8217;t free no more,&#8221; De Niro quipped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was, however, available on streaming service Hulu + Live TV, owned by Disney &#8211; which is also&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-157147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}