America’s late-night TV show hosts have extended their support after the Jimmy Kimmel show was taken off the air by ABC.
After the Jimmy Kimmel show was taken off the air, the free speech debate has intensified in the US media; many independent voices are raising questions of safeguarding freedom of speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.
Let’s take a look at how late-night show hosts have responded to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel; those include Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, and Seth Meyers, who vouched in favor of Jimmy Kimmel and also criticized the move.
The most powerful response first came from Stephen Colbert, who started his monologue with the words, “We are all Jimmy Kimmel. This is blatant censorship.” That monologue within no time stormed the internet.
Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show,spoke out in support of Jimmy Kimmel, after Kimmel's show was suspended by ABC; he said: “I don’t know what’s going on, and no one does, but I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s a decent, funny, and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.”
David Letterman, a former late-night show host, also jumped in and extended their support; he said, ”We all see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good, it’s silly, it’s ridiculous, and you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian- a criminal-administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
Another late-night show host, Seth Meyers, spoke out on the issue, saying, “Trump promised to end government censorship and bring back free speech, and he’s doing the opposite.”
Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show,came to Kimmel's defense; he mocked the Trump administration, saying, “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. Not me, though, I think it’s great.”
The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show has sparked a heated debate about free speech, with some seeing it as an attack on free speech, while others, especially the conservatives, view it as a necessary measure to curb “hate speech.”