Recommendations of the Editorial team
After the late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was discontinued because of the criticism of media reporting on the killing of the ultra-right influencers Charlie Kirk, late night moderator Stephen Colbert was now expressed on the situation.
He also experienced the “culture of consequences” carried out by the US President and his political levels when he criticized Donald Trump during his broadcast in July. Now Colbert publicized himself publicly with Jimmy Kimmel.
US talk shows get into the crosshairs
It is not a good week for freedom of expression in the USA. On the evening of September 15, the late night presenter Jimmy Kimmel commented on the killing of Charlie Kirk. He indicated that the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, was a Republican Maga supporter and Trump supporter.
Kimmel said: “The Maga gang tries desperately, this guy who murdered Charlie Kirk than presenting anything but one of them, and they try everything to make political capital from it”. Only a short time later, the TV network ABC announced that the late night show was discontinued for an indefinite period of pressure from the US media supervisory authority (FCC).
It is not the first time that a program is put under pressure due to supposedly controversial statements of liberal-democratic talk show moderators. Just think of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, which will soon be hired, after Colbert criticized the paramount paramount paramounting company, to have settled a legal dispute with Donald Trump over $ 16 million.
The attitude of the show was publicly justified with financial difficulties, but some suspect that in addition to economic interests, political influencing factors in particular also in the decision. President Donald Trump reacted almost euphorically to Colbert’s soon. On Truth Social, he wrote: “I think it’s great that Colbert was fired. I heard that Jimmy Kimmel should be the next.”
So all the less surprising that Stephen Colbert passionately defended his moderator colleague Kimmel in his show on September 18. Colbert, for example, described Kimmel’s suspension as “obvious censorship” and criticized it as the work of a “autocrat” – of course, Donald Trump is meant. “You can’t give in a centimeter of a autocrat,” said Colbert to his audience. He dedicated the evening show Kimmel and his team: “Jimmy, I am 100 % behind you and your employees”.
Colbert himself will only be allowed to radiate his show until May 2026.
Concern for freedom of expression
The removal of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” caused violent reactions online. Many prominent people, including actress Wanda Sykes or Ben Stiller, were outraged and also suspected censorship provoked by the Trump administration. While the deputy chief of staff of the White House described the discontinuation of the late night show as an example of a new “culture of the consequences”, the democratic Senator Ed Markay branded the procedure as “flawless censorship”.
Charlie Kirk was shot on September 10 during a performance on a university campus in the state of Utah. The 31-year-old was considered one of the most influential right-wing activists and as a mouthpiece of President Donald Trump for young people. According to the authorities, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson shot Kirk from one roof. He was arrested and charged by the public prosecutor’s office for murder.