2025-09-18T08:18:51Z
Share
Email
X
Bluesky
Copy link
lighning bolt icon
An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Impact Link
Save
Saved
Read in app
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers. Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? Log in.
- Hollywood celebrities are voicing support for Jimmy Kimmel after his show got pulled by ABC.
- ABC suspended the show over Kimmel’s comments on the killing of Charlie Kirk in a Monday episode.
- Reactions from celebrities, including Ben Stiller, Wanda Sykes, and Jean Smart, have poured in.
Hollywood is rallying behind Jimmy Kimmel, after his talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” got pulled from ABC.
ABC “indefinitely” suspended the show over Kimmel’s comments on the shooting of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10.
“We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said in a Monday episode of his show.
He added that Trump’s supporters were politicizing the shooting.
Reactions from actors and comedians have poured in, expressing dismay over the show’s suspension.
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller said the show being pulled off the air wasn’t right.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
The actor and comedian Ben Stiller used just a few words to describe his feelings about the show’s suspension.
Reposting an X post by The Wall Street Journal’s journalist about the news, Stiller wrote, “This isn’t right.”
The “Zoolander” actor made the post on Wednesday evening.
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes said Trump had ended freedom of speech.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The actor and comedian Wanda Sykes made a reel on Instagram to criticize the Trump administration.
In the reel, posted on Wednesday evening, she said she had a full face of makeup on because she was set to go on Kimmel’s show.
“But as you have heard by now, the Jimmy Kimmel show has been pulled indefinitely, abruptly, because of complaints from the Trump administration,” Sykes said.
She said Trump had ended freedom of speech within his first year of his term.
Sykes ended the reel saying, “Love you, Jimmy.”
Paul Scheer
Paul Scheer protested the show being pulled.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Paul Scheer, an actor, comedian, and podcaster, protested the show being pulled from ABC.
Near midnight on Thursday, Scheer posted on Threads about the show’s suspension, musing on why ABC couldn’t air the show on its cable affiliates like ESPN.
Alex Edelman
Alex Edelman posted about the show’s cancellation on X.
Todd Williamson/Peacock via Getty Images
Alex Edelman, a comedian, actor, and writer, made a series of posts on X about Kimmel’s show being taken off the air.
Edelman, who stars in “The Paper,” first posted about it on Wednesday evening, saying, “This is the actual cancel culture everyone claims to hate so much.”
He then criticized the government, accusing it of pressuring ABC to fire Kimmel.
Shortly after midnight, he posted, “The joke I would like to make about the Kimmel situation is one I, apparently, can only text to close friends.”
Jean Smart
Jean Smart said Kimmel’s comments were not hate speech, but free speech.
Rich Fury/Getty Images
The actor Jean Smart, known for her role in the comedy-drama “Hacks,” posted about the suspension on Instagram.
“I am horrified at the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live,” she said. “What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech.”
“People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda,” Smart said. She added that she was sickened by Kirk’s shooting.
Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin urged people to actively support Jimmy Kimmel.
Robin L Marshall/Getty Images
The comedian and actor Kathy Griffin took to Instagram to urge fans and fellow entertainers to rally behind Kimmel.
“Please, take it from me, it’s very important to have Jimmy Kimmel’s back right now,” she wrote.
Griffin called on people to “be vocal” and “be an ideological consumer,” adding that “money is all their crowd cares about.”
Griffin has long been a staunch critic of Trump, and during his first term, she attracted widespread condemnation after posing with a mask depicting his severed head.
Sophia Bush
Sophia Bush warned that pulling Kimmel’s show signaled a grave erosion of free speech in the US.
Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images
The actor and activist Sophia Bush, best known for her role on “One Tree Hill,” condemned the cancellation in a post on X.
She wrote, “The First Amendment doesn’t exist in America anymore.”
“Fascism is here and it’s chilling,” she added.
Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley said comedians like Jimmy Kimmel are vital to public life and urged protecting their First Amendment rights.
Raymond Hall/GC Images via Getty Images
The supermodel and actor Christie Brinkley, best known for her decadeslong career in fashion and film, posted an Instagram story expressing her support for Kimmel.
She shared a photo of the late-night hosts John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon, writing:Â “I Love these guys!
“The laughter they provide us is as important as the air we breathe!” she said. “And they are taking another one of them off the air tonight!”
Brinkley added: “We must protect their and our First Amendment rights!!!”
Rosie O’Donnell
Rosie O’Donnell condemned the cancellation as unacceptable, accusing Trump’s administration and corporate executives of “bowing” to him.
MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images
The comedian, actor, and former daytime talk show host Rosie O’Donnell shared a photo of Kimmel on Instagram alongside an expletive-filled caption in which she slammed the administration and corporate executives.
“This is unacceptable,” she wrote, later adding, “America is no more.”