After Jimmy Kimmel Live! was abruptly pulled off the air following Kimmel’s comments about the Trump administration’s reaction to the shooting of Charlie Kirk, many talk show hosts, including John Oliver, stepped forward to discuss the implications of this move, especially in regard to the First Amendment. CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show shortly before this, allegedly due in part to his political commentary.
John Oliver says Jimmy Kimmel is the ‘latest canary in the coal mine’
John Oliver made his feelings abundantly clear about the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. He claimed that free speech was under attack in the United States. In the latest episode of his show, Last Week Tonight, the host condemned the cancellation. He also claimed that it was “by no means the first casualty in Trump’s attacks on free speech.”
Oliver continued, “He’s just the latest canary in the coal mine,…A mine that at this point now seems more dead canary than coal (via Business Insider).” Various other actors and comedians have also criticized Kimmel’s suspension, and Oliver dedicated most of his episode to discussing it.
Oliver criticized Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr’s reaction to Kimmel’s statements allegedly led to the suspension.
Kimmel said about the reaction to Kirk’s shooting, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” These comments recieved swift backlash from conservative commentators and the Trump administration.
Before Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart had already spoken out about Kimmel’s suspension. But Oliver’s segment was more detailed and more critical compared to what the other hosts said. However, Colbert and Meyers also spoke in detail about how this suspension was an assault on freedom of speech.
The future of Jimmy Kimmel Live! remains uncertain at the point.
