Seth Meyers is speaking out after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled off air indefinitely by ABC.
During the Thursday, Sept. 18 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, the comedian dedicated the “A Closer Look” segment to President Donald Trump and his relationship with the media and free speech.
“His administration is pursuing a crackdown on free speech — and completely unrelated, I just want to say, before we get started here, that I’ve always admired and respected Mr. Trump,” Meyers said as the audience audibly laughed. “I’ve always believed he was a visionary, innovator, a great president, and an even better golfer. And if you’ve ever seen me say anything negative about him, that’s just AI.”
“It is a privilege and an honor to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend in the same way that it’s a privilege and honor to do this show every night,” he continued. “I wake up every day, I count my blessings that I live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech, and we’re gonna keep doing our show the way we’ve always done it: with enthusiasm and integrity.”
Meyers called right now a “big moment in our democracy,” and said, “We must all stand up for the principles of free expression. There’s a reason free speech is in the very first amendment.”
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Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled by ABC indefinitely on Wednesday, Sept. 17 after Nexstar, one of the network’s largest affiliate groups, pulled the show from broadcast due to Kimmel’s comments about slain political influencer Charlie Kirk.
Sinclair Broadcast Group also pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its ABC stations due to the comments, calling on the comedian to make a donation to Kirk’s family and his non-profit organization Turning Point USA.
The comments in question were made during Kimmel’s monologue on the Monday, Sept. 15 episode.
“We had 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 with everything they can to score political points from it.” Kimmel said.
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After news broke of Kimmel’s show being pulled, the president took to Truth Social to advocate for the cancellation of other late night shows — including Late Night with Seth Meyers.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even [Stephen] Colbert, if that’s possible,” Trump wrote. “That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.”