Spider-Man and a Hollywood tour guide were having it out. <\/p>\n
They stood right outside Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s studio on Hollywood Boulevard, arguing about whether ABC was right to yank the host\u2019s TV show off the air last week after he commented on the political response to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI like Kimmel!\u201d said the Spider-Man impersonator, who wore pink Nike sneakers and leaned in close so he could hear through his thin, face-covering costume. \u201cWhat he said is free speech.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A tour bus drives past what was Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Sept. 18, 2025. <\/p>\n
(Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Todd Doten, a tour agent for Beverly Hills Tours of Hollywood, pushed back. He said he believed broadcasters are held to a different standard than private citizens, and that the Federal Communications Commission \u2014 which pushed to get Kimmel\u2019s show canceled \u2014 \u201chas somewhat of a point.\u201d <\/p>\n
The men verbally sparred beside singer Little Richard\u2019s cracked star on the Walk of Fame. Then Doten patted the selfie-hawking superhero on the back and they parted ways amicably.<\/p>\n
The scene on Friday afternoon captured the Hollywood that Kimmel embraced and aggressively promoted: Weird, gritty and surprisingly poignant.<\/p>\n
Ever since he began filming at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in 2003, Kimmel has been one of the famed neighborhood\u2019s biggest ambassadors. He drew tourists to the storied Hollywood Boulevard<\/a>, which \u2014 despite being home to the Academy Awards, TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame \u2014 has long struggled with crime<\/a>, homelessness<\/a> and blight<\/a>. He used his celebrity to help homeless youth<\/a> and opened a donation center<\/a> on his show\u2019s backlot for victims of the January wildfires. <\/p>\n And he filmed many a sketch with Hollywood itself as the bizarro backdrop \u2014 including one returning bit<\/a> called \u201cWho\u2019s High?\u201d in which he tried to guess which of three pedestrians was stoned. <\/p>\n Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s theater a day after ABC pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely over comments he made about the response to right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Now, locals and entertainment industry officials alike worry what will happen if Kimmel\u2019s show permanently disappears from a Hollywood still struggling to recover<\/a> from the writers\u2019 and actors\u2019 strikes of 2023 and the COVID-19 pandemic that literally shut the neighborhood down. While his suspension has sparked a roiling debate over free speech rights nationwide, in this neighborhood, the impact is more close to home.<\/p>\n \u201cA hostile act toward Jimmy Kimmel is a hostile act toward Hollywood itself and one of its great champions,\u201d former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Times on Friday. <\/p>\n \u201cHollywood is both a place and an idea. It\u2019s an industry and a geography. Jimmy is always big on both. He actually lives in Hollywood, at a time when not a lot of stars do.\u201d<\/p>\n Miguel Aguilar, a fruit vendor who often sets up near Kimmel\u2019s theater, said Friday that business was always better on the days \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d filmed because so many audience members bought his strawberries and pineapples doused in chamoy. He was stunned when a Times reporter told him the show had been suspended. <\/p>\n \u201cWas it canceled by the government?\u201d Aguilar asked. \u201cWe used to get a lot more customers [from the show]. That\u2019s pretty scary.\u201d <\/p>\n A man holding a sign advertising at a nearby diner said he worried about Kimmel\u2019s crew, including the gaffers and makeup artists.<\/p>\n \u201cHow many people went down with Kimmel?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n And Daniel Gomez, who lives down the street, said he feared that nearby businesses will suffer from the loss of foot traffic from the show, for which audience members lined up all the way down the block. <\/p>\n \u201cTourists still will come to Hollywood no matter what, but a portion of that won\u2019t be coming anymore,\u201d Gomez said as he signed a large canvas outside the theater on which scores of fans and free speech advocates wrote messages about the show being axed. <\/p>\n Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s theater in Hollywood. <\/p>\n (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty bad that he got shut down because of his comments,\u201d Gomez added. \u201cComedians should be free to say whatever they want.\u201d <\/p>\n In a joint statement<\/a>, a coalition of Hollywood labor groups including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Screen Actors Guild\u2013American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said the kind of political pressure that Kimmel faced as a broadcaster \u201cchills free speech and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of working Americans.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when America\u2019s film and television industry is still struggling due to globalization and industry contraction, further unnecessary job losses only make a bad situation worse,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n During his monologue Monday, Kimmel made remarks about Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of fatally shooting Kirk. He said the \u201cMAGA gang\u201d was \u201cdesperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ingrid Salazar protests outside of the \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d studio on Thursday. <\/p>\n (Juliana Yamada\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n While Kimmel\u2019s remarks could be interpreted in different ways, Kirk\u2019s supporters immediately accused the talk show host of claiming Robinson was a Trump ally, which many of Kimmel\u2019s supporters reject. Kimmel himself has not publicly responded.<\/p>\n Kimmel also mocked President Trump for talking about<\/a> the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was coping with the killing of his close ally.<\/p>\n Nexstar Media Group responded on Wednesday, saying it would pull the show from its ABC affiliate stations because of Kimmel\u2019s comments. Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, then announced it would suspend \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d indefinitely.<\/p>\n Nexstar\u2019s decision to yank the show came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr<\/a>, a Trump appointee, threatened to take action against ABC and urged local ABC affiliate stations to stand up the network.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr told<\/a> right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson. \u201cThese companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump wrote on his Truth Social account<\/a>: \u201cGreat News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.\u201d <\/p>\n He also targeted late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, calling them \u201ctotal losers.\u201d He pressured NBC to cancel their shows, writing: \u201cDo it NBC!!!\u201d <\/p>\n The president this summer praised CBS\u2019s decision to cancel<\/a> \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u201d after this season, writing on Truth Social on July 18<\/a>: \u201cI absolutely love that Colbert\u2019 got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.\u201d<\/p>\n Pedestrians walk across the street from the \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d theater a day after ABC has pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely. <\/p>\n (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n While the show is in limbo, it is unclear what will happen to Kimmel\u2019s iconic theater in the historic former Hollywood Masonic Temple, a neoclassical 1921 building<\/a> fronted by six imposing columns.<\/p>\n Disney owns the building, as well as the adjacent 1920s office building that contains the El Capitan Theatre and the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop. Kimmel\u2019s production company, 12:05 AM Productions, occupies four floors \u2014 26,000 square feet \u2014 in the six-story office building, according to real estate data provider CoStar. <\/p>\n Disney did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n Garcetti, who long represented Hollywood on the L.A. City Council, said Kimmel was a major advocate for renovation of the old Masonic lodge and other revitalization Hollywood projects. <\/p>\n And after the Oscars returned for good<\/a> to the Kodak Theatre (now Dolby Theatre) across the street in 2002 after several years outside of Hollywood, Kimmel \u201chelped usher in what I call Hollywood\u2019s second golden age, when the Academy Awards came back and people saw actual stars in nightclubs and restaurants,\u201d Garcetti said. <\/p>\n When Garcetti was showing off the city to officials with the International Olympic Committee years ago in an effort to host the Games, Kimmel met their helicopter on the roof of a Hollywood hotel to brag about the neighborhood. <\/p>\n Jimmy Kimmel, host and executive producer of the late-night talk show, \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d celebrates as he receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Jan. 25, 2013. <\/p>\n (Reed Saxon\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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