Howard Stern has checked in with Jimmy Kimmel amid the comedian’s talk show suspension.
Stern, 71, revealed during the Monday, September 22, episode of SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show that he’s “spoken to” Kimmel, 57, since ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air last week.
“I don’t know what [ABC’s] plan is, but it looks like they might be firing him. And then I read sometimes that they’re not gonna fire him. I don’t know,” Stern, who is a longtime friend of Kimmel’s, said. “I have spoken to Jimmy. I didn’t ask him these questions, I just asked him how he was doing personally.”
The radio host then shared his take on the controversy.
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“I just know when the government begins to interfere, when the government says, ‘I’m not pleased with you, so we’re gonna orchestrate a way to silence you,’ it’s the wrong direction for our country,” he continued. “And I should know. I’ve been involved in something like this.”
Stern added that he “feels for” ABC, too.
“Now ABC is put in the same position, and it’s unfortunate that ABC even has to be in this position. They shouldn’t have to be in this position,” he said. “But someone’s gotta step up and be f***ing saying, ‘Hey, enough, we’re not gonna bow.’”
Stern also shared what he did to protest the network’s decision.
“Now it might sound stupid, but the thing I did this morning, I’m canceling my Disney+. [ABC is owned by Disney.] I’m trying to say with the pocketbook that I do not support what they’re doing with Jimmy,” he concluded.
A spokesperson for ABC confirmed to Us Weekly on September 17 that Kimmel’s talk show had been taken off the air.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be pre-empted indefinitely,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Variety reported on Saturday, September 20, that Kimmel and Disney are “working toward reaching a compromise.” The outlet cited multiple sources who claimed that Kimmel’s team is discussing ways to bring back Jimmy Kimmel Live! with the network executives.
Us reached out to Kimmel and Disney for comment.
According to Variety, Nexstar Media, which owns multiple TV stations, reportedly threatened to eliminate the show from its lineup following Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed at a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University on September 10.
Nexstar told the outlet that it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk” and would be replacing Jimmy Kimmel Live! with other programming “for the foreseeable future.”
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During the September 15 episode of his talk show, Kimmel spoke about Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s alleged shooter. He accused conservatives of reaching “new lows” by trying to claim that Robinson, 22, was part of the far-left movement.
“The MAGA Gang [is] 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,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Kimmel also joked about how President Donald Trump responded to a reporter who asked how he was coping with Kirk’s death. (Trump, 79, said, “I think very good,” before discussing the White House ballroom’s remodel.)
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“He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel quipped. “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
Prior to his talk show comments, Kimmel took to Instagram on the day of Kirk’s death to condemn gun violence.
“Instead of angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” he wrote. “On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
