More than 400 celebrities have signed a letter supporting Jimmy Kimmel after his late-night talk show was put on indefinite suspension.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released the open letter on Monday, Sept. 22, defending free speech rights six days after Disney’s ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air. The statement was signed by hundreds of entertainers, saying they stand “in solidarity” with both Kimmel and the ACLU.
“We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech,” the letter begins. “Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.”
The letter continued: “Last week, Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation. In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board. This runs counter to the values our nation was built upon, and our Constitution guarantees.”
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It also pointed out that others are facing attacks on their right to speak freely, including “teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students and so many more.”
“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,” the letter added. “We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power – because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”
The message ended with a call to action: “This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation. We encourage all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights.”
In addition to Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and Tom Hanks, the letter was signed by Disney stars such as Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short and Meryl Streep. Other signers included Jason Bateman, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Rodrigo, Ben Stiller, Jean Smart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalie Portman, Maya Rudolph, Mark Ruffalo and Kerry Washington.
The late-night show, which Kimmel has hosted since 2003, was pulled from ABC just hours before its Sept. 17 broadcast. The decision followed remarks he made earlier in the week about the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 during a campus event at Utah Valley University. Two days later, police announced that suspect Tyler Robinson had been arrested and charged with aggravated murder and six other counts.
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On his Sept. 15 broadcast, Kimmel criticized how political groups were reacting to Kirk’s death. “We hit 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 and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said.
Kimmel also showed a clip of President Trump responding to questions about Kirk’s death. After briefly acknowledging his grief, Trump shifted to talking about construction of a new White House ballroom, which Kimmel mocked by saying, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction.”
Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar Media’s broadcasting division, told PEOPLE that Kimmel’s comments were “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” Nexstar, which owns more than 200 TV stations, said it decided to preempt the show to “let cooler heads prevail.”
The decision came as Nexstar announced a $6.2 billion deal to acquire rival broadcaster Tegna, a move that would give it access to 80% of U.S. households. The merger still requires approval from the Trump-controlled FCC.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr praised the move, saying on X that broadcasters should reject Disney programming that doesn’t reflect “community values.”
Sinclair Broadcasting, which operates the largest group of ABC affiliates, also announced it would “indefinitely preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! after discussions with ABC. Sinclair vice chairman Jason Smith said Kimmel’s remarks were “inappropriate and deeply insensitive.” The company demanded that Kimmel apologize directly to the Kirk family, donate to Turning Point USA, and commit to more “professionalism and accountability” before returning to air.
Meanwhile, during a state visit to the U.K. on Sept. 18, President Trump claimed Kimmel was “fired for lack of talent.” Trump said: “Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great man named Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.”
