The Late Show with Stephen Colbert throughout Thursday’s July 25, 2019 present.
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Late-night tv host Stephen Colbert gave a full-throated protection of Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday night time and known as President Donald Trump an “autocrat.”
“This is blatant censorship,” Colbert stated in a fiery opening monologue on the taping of his CBS present in New York City, referring to the suspension of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” a day earlier by ABC.
The Disney subsidiary yanked Kimmel’s present indefinitely after outrage over his latest on-air feedback linking the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to Trump’s MAGA motion.
“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch,” Colbert instructed his viewers at “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” within the Ed Sullivan Theater on Thursday.
“Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100%” stated Colbert, who additionally has been criticized by the president.
Colbert devoted Thursday’s present to free speech and to Kimmel’s crew.
Trump has praised Kimmel’s suspension and urged Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission would possibly revoke the licenses of broadcast TV networks which might be “against” him.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday hinted that ABC’s license was at stake if it didn’t take motion in opposition to Kimmel.
Colbert on Thursday stated that Carr’s “comments sure seem like marching orders.”
His episode featured a phase of “The Colbert Report,” during which the host satirically portrays a conservative pundit, and interviews with NCS anchor Jake Tapper and The New Yorker Editor David Remnick.
Remnick mentioned his time as a correspondent in Moscow throughout the closing years of the Soviet Union and the early years in energy of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Remnick stated that one of many first issues that Putin did to consolidate management of Russia was to crack down on comedians.
Colbert regarded bodily exhausted on the finish of the taping.
CBS in July introduced it will cancel Colbert’s present, efficient subsequent May.
The announcement got here quickly after Colbert blasted CBS for giving what he known as “a big fat bribe” to Trump. That referred to the community’s father or mother firm, Paramount, agreeing to pay $16 million for Trump’s future library to settle a lawsuit by him over the modifying of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was operating in opposition to him within the 2024 presidential election.
Per week after the cancellation was introduced, the FCC accepted an $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance Media.
People within the viewers on Thursday night later praised Colbert’s defiant stance.
John Carter, a 61-year-old New Jersey resident, instructed CNBC, “He really said no matter what you do, we’re not going to let you get away with this madness.”
Another Garden State resident within the viewers, Camille Carter, stated, “I would be surprised if he makes it to the end of his contract in May.”
“Steven is putting himself out there on our behalf and raising the alarm,” stated Solyasela Escudlo, a 45-year-old from the Bronx. “It takes a lot of courage to do what he did tonight, and it was simply stating facts that democracy depends on free speech.”
Corey Dickinson, 63, stated, “Our country is under great threat of freedom of speech. This is a turning point in America, and a very scary time.”
“However, my wife and I both said to ourselves after watching this episode that we both felt like we were watching history in the making, and this might very well be Stephen Colbert’s last show on CBS,” stated Dickinson, who lives in Palm Springs, California.
Earlier Thursday, late-night legend David Letterman known as the suspension of Kimmel’s present “ridiculous,” saying, “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office.”
“I feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct?” Letterman instructed Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic Festival in New York.
David Letterman takes half within the 2025 Atlantic Festival at PAC NYC on Sept. 18, 2025 in New York City.
Michael Loccisano | Getty Images
“It’s managed media,” stated Letterman, who hosted reveals on CBS and NBC for greater than three many years.
“And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous,” he stated.
Letterman in contrast ABC’s transfer to the choice by CBS to cancel Colbert’s present.
“They took care of Colbert,” Letterman stated Thursday.
“That was rude, that was inexcusable, the man deserves a great deal of credit, he’s in the Hall of Fame nine times, and to be manipulated like that, because the Ellison family [which owned Skydance] didn’t want to trouble Donald Trump with this move, so they got rid of him,” Letterman stated.
“Not only got rid of him, got rid of the whole franchise.”
Letterman stated he is been in contact with Kimmel for the reason that suspension was introduced.
“He was nice enough to text me this morning,” Letterman stated. “And he’s sitting up in bed taking nourishment. He’s going to be fine.”
Another late-night host, Jon Stewart, on Thursday deliberate to host an episode of “The Daily Show.”
Stewart, as a rule, solely hosts the Comedy Central present on Mondays.
He is ready to interview Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the writer of the ebook “How to Stand Up to a Dictator,” the Associated Press reported.
Variety reported Thursday that there have been protests about Kimmel’s suspension exterior Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California, and in New York.
In New York, protestors chanted, “Kimmel stays, Trump must go” and “ABC, grow a spine,” in response to Variety.
Trump on Wednesday night time crowed about Kimmel’s suspension and talked about Colbert.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social put up. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
He urged that NBC comply with ABC’s instance and cancel its personal night reveals, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Harris, the previous vice chairman, in a tweet on Thursday, stated, “What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power.”
“This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out,” she wrote.
“Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats,” Harris wrote. “We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the father or mother firm of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would change into the brand new father or mother firm of CNBC upon Comcast’s deliberate spinoff of Versant.