Stephen Colbert Rips ABC Pulling Jimmy Kimmel as ‘Blatant Censorship’ to Appease Trump: ‘With an Autocrat, You Cannot Give an Inch’

Stephen Colbert came to the defense of fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday’s “The Late Show” on CBS, using his monologue to blast ABC executives for indefinitely suspending “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr floated action against the network.

“Shortly after Carr made his statements about ABC, Kimmel gets yanked off the air. This decision came after senior executives at ABC, Disney and affiliates convened emergency meetings during which multiple execs felt that Kimmel had not actually said anything over the line, but the threat of Trump administration retaliation loomed,” Colbert said. “The Late Show” shared a clip from the host’s monologue in the hours before airing the full episode. “As one source at ABC put it, they were pissing themselves all day. On the bright side, that proves Disney is number one in streaming.

Colbert continued, “Carr was quick to reassure everyone posting, ‘While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.’ Well, you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech.”

Per CNBC, which was on site for the taping at the Ed Sullivan Theater, Colbert called the Kimmel decision “blatant censorship” and added “With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch.”

“Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100%” said Colbert.

ABC pulled all future episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its schedule “indefinitely” on Wednesday. The announcement came after Nexstar Media, the largest TV station owner conglomerate in the U.S., said it would pre-empt Kimmel’s show from all “owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network,” citing the host’s comments on the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Shortly after the news broke, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to celebrate ABC’s historic decision. He wrote, “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.” On Thursday, Trump followed up the rhetoric by threatening other broadcasters, warning they could lose their licenses if they aired criticism of his administration: “When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump, they’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party.”

Trouble for Kimmel started after Monday night’s episode, during which Kimmel stated the “MAGA gang” was doing everything it could to “characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” The commentary was interpreted by some conservative commentators as Kimmel falsely stating that Kirk’s suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was a Trump supporter.

The monologue prompted a response from FCC chairman Carr. In an unorthodox move from a sitting FCC chairman, Carr appeared on conservative personality Benny Johnson’s podcast and stated that, “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Nexstar Media has denied that it pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its stations due to Carr’s comments or that the decision was made in relation to the company’s pending acquisition of station-owner Tegna, which would require FCC approval.