Monologues about censorship and tongue-in-cheek comments about cosying up to U.S. President Donald Trump took the spotlight in American late-night shows Thursday night.聽
Popular American late-night hosts took to set with messages of support for veteran comic Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show was suspended indefinitely Wednesday by ABC over comments Kimmel made about the assassination of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk.
“I鈥檓 your host Stephen Colbert, but tonight, we are all Jimmy Kimmel,” Colbert said in his opening monologue for CBS’s “The Late Show.” He criticized the suspension of Kimmel’s show as “blatant censorship.”聽
“It always starts small,鈥 he said, referencing the decisions made in the early weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency, like renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
“Seems harmless, but with an autocrat you cannot give an inch,” Colbert said. “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully na茂ve.”聽
Kimmel’s suspension comes months after CBS announced 鈥淭he Late Show With Stephen Colbert鈥 would be cancelled next May.
Colbert, a persistent critic of Trump, had criticized a settlement between the U.S. president and Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, days before, but the network attributed the cancellation to “financial reasons.”
Kimmel has to speak publicly about the suspension. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump called the suspension “great news for America,” in a post on聽, saying that NBC should cancel Fallon and Myers next.聽
ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely over his remarks about Charlie Kirk鈥檚 death
鈥淐ongratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” said U.S.
On NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Jimmy Fallon also spoke in support of Kimmel, calling him a “decent, funny and loving guy.” Fallon said he hopes Kimmel and his show return.
Fallon then launched into a bit, saying he would cover Trump’s trip the U.K. as usual, despite concerns that late-night hosts and comedians will be censored or no longer speak their minds.聽
“President Trump just wrapped up his three-day trip to the U.K. and he 鈥” Fallon said before a deep off-screen voice cut him off, ending the sentence with “looked incredibly handsome.”聽
The joke continued, with the voice speaking over Fallon and complimenting Trump every time Fallon was clearly making disparaging comments, going so far as to replace a reference to Jeffrey Epstein with the name of Jeff Goldblum, and nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.聽
Jokes about censorship also featured on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, who made an unusual Thursday appearance on the late-night program. The show was introduced as the “all-new, government-approved Daily Show, with your patriotically obedient host Jon Stewart.” On screen, Stewart sat at his desk, pretending to be visibly fearful on set.聽
Pulling Kimmel’s show is the latest in a series of moves that add up to a suppression of
Throughout the show, Stewart played up the role of late-night host fearful of upsetting the government and facing retribution.聽
鈥淪ome naysayers may argue that this administration鈥檚 speech concerns are merely ... 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,” he said before pausing.
“Not me though, I think it鈥檚 great,” he joked.聽
NBC late-night host Seth Meyers also played up the joke of switching to “support” Trump to avoid losing his show. He jokingly called Trump “a great president, an even better golfer” and said that any clips of Meyers poking fun at the president are “obviously deepfakes.”聽
Later in his show, Meyers said it is “a privilege and an honour to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend,” and a privilege and honour to continue hosting “Late Night.”聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep doing our show the way we鈥檝e always done it, with enthusiasm and integrity,” he said.聽
Followed by a fart noise and applause.聽
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