ABC proceeded to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live from its schedule — a move which President Trump applauded the network for.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” Trump penned on Truth Social.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
Lots of celebrities have since weighed in on the matter, including Ben Stiller who said: “This isn’t right.”
Now fellow TV host Jimmy Fallon (who was mentioned in Trump’s scathing social media post) has spoken out on it too.
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon said: “To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on — no one does.
“But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he is a decent, funny and loving guy. And I hope he comes back.”
His monologue also took a comedic angle, with an announcer censoring several of the punchlines to his jokes about Trump.
Former long-time late-night host David Letterman also called Kimmel’s suspension ‘ridiculous’.
Speaking during an appearance at The Atlantic Festival in New York on Thursday, the 78-year-old said: “I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct?
“It’s managed media. It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous.”
Letterman also said people should not be fired just because they do not ‘suck up’ to what he called’ ‘an authoritarian’ president.
Other talk show hosts have followed suit. Seth Meyers told the audience on his show: “The [Trump] administration is pursuing a crackdown on free speech… completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here that I’ve always admired and respected Mr Trump.”
He continued to joke: “I’ve always believed he was… a visionary, an innovator, a great president, an even better golfer. And if you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just AI.”
Elsewhere the likes of Stephen Colbert has called ABC’s move to take Kimmel’s show off air as a ‘blatant assault on the freedom of speech’.