NEW YORK \u2014 Hundreds of Hollywood and Broadway stars \u2014 including Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep \u2014 are urging Americans \u201cfight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights\u201d in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n
More than 430 movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is \u201ca dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move comes less than a week after ABC suspended Kimmel\u2019s late-night talk show following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. After a group of ABC-affiliated stations said they wouldn\u2019t air \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d The Walt Disney Co. pulled the show Wednesday just before air, prompting a firestorm of debate over free speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,\u201d the letter says. \u201cWe also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power \u2014 because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The list of signatories includes newly crowned Emmy-winner Noah Wyle, Oscar-nominated Florence Pugh, comedian David Cross, Tony-winner Kelli O\u2019Hara and veteran actor Molly Ringwald. Pedro Pascal, Billy Crystal, Nathan Lane, Kerry Washington and Kevin Bacon also signed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the moment to defend free speech across our nation. We encourage all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights,\u201d the letter concludes.<\/p>\n
Also Monday, ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d weighed in on the controversy after not raising it for two episodes after Kimmel was suspended. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg opened the show saying: \u201cNo one silences us\u201d and she and her fellow hosts condemned Disney\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand how in this country, where the First Amendment was made to the Constitution to guarantee freedom of the press and freedom of speech, how the government itself is using its weight and power to bully and scare people into silence,\u201d Ana Navarro said.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s most conservative voice, Alyssa Farah Griffin, said: \u201cThe First Amendment is the first for a reason, because you need to be able to hold those in power accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldberg also explained that the show was initially reluctant to discuss the issue \u201cto see if Jimmy was going to say anything about it first\u201d and added that \u201cThe View\u201d took the same approach when news of the cancellation of CBS\u2019 \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.\u201d Since his suspension, Kimmel wasn\u2019t made a public statement.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: September 22, 2025 at 11:56 AM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Hundreds of Hollywood and Broadway stars \u2014 including Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,2558,2413,3,111],"class_list":["post-174778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-national-news","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}