- John Oliver said Jimmy Kimmel’s show getting suspended was the latest blow to free speech in the US.
- The “Last Week Tonight” host said Kimmel was the “latest canary in the coal mine.”
- Kimmel’s show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was pulled off the air over his comments on Charlie Kirk.
John Oliver warned that Jimmy Kimmel’s show being pulled off the air was the latest warning sign that free speech is under attack in the US.
On an episode of his talk show “Last Week Tonight,” aired late on Sunday, the British-American comedian said Kimmel was “by no means the first casualty in Trump’s attacks on free speech.”
“He’s just the latest canary in the coal mine,” Oliver said. “A mine that at this point now seems more dead canary than coal.”
Kimmel’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was indefinitely suspended by Disney after Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, criticized Kimmel’s comments about the killing of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
Oliver devoted the majority of his 40-minute-long episode to talking about Kimmel’s suspension.
He criticized Carr for walking back what the commissioner said in a 2023 statement about free speech being a check on government control, and the comedian slammed broadcasters Sinclair and Nexstar for what he characterized as bending to the FCC’s will.
Oliver joined the ranks of comedy talk-show hosts who have weighed in on Kimmel’s suspension.
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On Thursday night, four of late night’s best-known voices — Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jon Stewart — criticized Disney’s move and defended Kimmel.
Stewart gave a sarcastic monologue on the suspension. Meyers said it was a “big moment for our democracy.” Colbert called it a “blatant assault on the freedom of speech.” And Fallon said he hoped Kimmel would get his show back.
Oliver’s segment on Kimmel was longer and more critical than those of the American talk show hosts. He said his show was less susceptible to FCC pressure because it was not on broadcast TV.
He ended the segment on Kimmel by urging media companies to stand up against “stupid, ridiculous demands.”
A representative for Oliver did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
