Late-night hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert opened their shows Thursday by addressing the news of Jimmy Kimmel Live! being taken off the air "indefinitely" following remarks host Jimmy Kimmel made on Monday night about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. On Wednesday, ABC suspended Kimmel's late-night show after comments he made about Kirk's killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say they would not air the show.
Earlier on Thursday, The Daily Show announced on social media that Stewart would step in as host. He typically only hosts the Monday edition of the program. 4:34 Jimmy Kimmel suspension: Comedians express concerns over free speech censorship "From Comedy Central, it's the all-new, government-approved Daily Show, with your patriotically obedient host, Jon Stewart," the show kicked off. Story continues below advertisement Halfway through the show, Stewart referenced Trump's state visit to the U.K. this week and mentioned Trump's comments about Kimmel during a press conference on Thursday with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, Starmer's country house in the English town of Aylesbury.
When asked about the dismissal of Kimmel and free speech in America, Trump said, "Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else." More on Entertainment More videos Here's what Jimmy Kimmel said about the Charlie Kirk shooting ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely over Charlie Kirk death monologue Ryan Reynolds helps rename Cobourg, Ont., arena in honour of Grace Bowen Lethbridge collaboration aims to boost film industry in southern Alberta 'This is what authoritarianism looks like': ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely Decomposed body of missing teen found in singer D4vd's impounded Tesla Atlantic Canada Swifties to celebrate Taylor's album release U.S. censorship fears deepen after ABC suspends Kimmel's show "He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk. And Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago," Trump continued. "So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent."Stewart began: "You may call it free speech in jolly old England, but in America, we have a little thing called the First Amendment, and let me tell you how it works." Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. He then went into an explanation about a "talent-o-meter," which he joked was a device on Trump's desk that lets him know when someone's "talent quotient, measured mostly by niceness to the president," reaches a low level."At which point, the FCC must be notified to threaten the acquisition prospects for billion-dollar mergers of network affiliates," Stewart said. "These affiliates are then asked to give ultimatums to even larger mega corporation that controls the flow of state-approved content. Or the FCC can just choose to threaten those licences directly. It's basic science." Story continues below advertisement Stewart went on to joke that he doesn't know who the "Johnny Drimmel Live ABC character is," but "the point is, our great administration has laid out very clear rules on free speech.""Now, some naysayers may argue that this administration's speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. Some people would say that," Stewart said. "Not me, though.... I think it's great."Stewart also interviewed journalist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa and asked for tips on coping with the current moment.
Ressa recounted how she and her colleagues at the news site Rappler "just kept going" when she was faced with 11 arrest warrants in one year under then-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte."We just kept doing our jobs. We just kept putting one foot in front of the other," Ressa said. 3:48 'This is what authoritarianism looks like': ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely 'This is what authoritarianism looks like': ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's show indefinitely over Charlie Kirk death monologue Fallon, Kimmel are 'next' after Colbert cancellation and Stern exit: Trump Stephen Colbert claps back at Trump: "Go f**k yourself" Previous Video Next Video Trending Now Toyota recalls more than 70K vehicles in Canada Here's what Jimmy Kimmel said about the Charlie Kirk shooting Story continues below advertisement Colbert, who recently announced the cancellation of The Late Show, told his audience Thursday that he stands with Kimmel