Reactions to ABC’s Pulling of ‘Kimmel’ Reflect America’s Partisan Divide

Fans, celebrities and Democratic politicians on Wednesday expressed anger and disappointment after ABC announced that it was pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the air indefinitely, saying that the move amounted to censorship and was an attack on free speech.

Conservative activists and media personalities, meanwhile, celebrated ABC’s decision, saying that Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the motives of the man accused of fatally shooting the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last week warranted the network shelving his late-night show.

On Monday, Mr. Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was “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.”

The reactions to ABC’s decision reflected the partisan divide that was laid bare in the days since Mr. Kirk was killed.

Nicholas Scutti, 33, who lives in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, was among the fewer than 10 protesters who gathered outside Mr. Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday evening. An aspiring comedy writer, he said that ABC’s decision to indefinitely take the program off the air had hit him particularly hard, and prompted him to to join a public show of disapproval.

“I think it is important to speak up now because if people don’t speak up now, it will be harder to speak up later,” he said.

Connor Lattery, 22, of Burbank, Calif., was in line for a premiere screening of “HIM,” a new football-themed horror film, at the TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from Mr. Kimmel’s studio. He said he was “shocked” by ABC’s announcement.

“Seeing the clip that they’re canceling him over, it seemed like a little bit of an extreme decision,” he said.

Heidie Garcia, 21, who had driven from near Long Beach, Calif., and was also waiting to see the film, was less surprised. “We can’t say anything anymore — everything is being censored,” she said.

On social media, many conservatives considered ABC’s decision an overdue reckoning for a comedian they had long criticized, while Mr. Trump’s critics tied the decision — which they denounced as being prodded by the government — to what they see as the administration’s larger efforts to curb free expression.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said he did not believe Mr. Kimmel’s removal was an example of “cancel culture.” He said that “when a person says something that a ton of people find offensive, rude, dumb in real time and then that person is punished for it that’s not cancel culture. That is consequences for your actions.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, said on X on Wednesday that the Republican pressure campaign on media companies to fire commentators, cancel shows and assert control over media platforms was a “coordinated” and “dangerous” attack on the First Amendment.

“The @GOP does not believe in free speech,” Mr. Newsom wrote. “They are censoring you in real time.”

Tommy Vietor, a former national security spokesman in the administration of President Barack Obama and a host of the liberal political podcast “Pod Save America,” called the suspension of Mr. Kimmel’s show “absurd.” If Mr. Kimmel made a factual error, he should correct it, Mr. Vietor said on X, but “suspending or canceling the show is a wild overreaction.”

Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who was scheduled to debate Mr. Kirk this month, said on X that corporations were “instantly folding” to the Trump administration, and called on liberals to fight back.

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, urged people to mobilize in response to the pulling of Mr. Kimmel’s show and accused Mr. Trump of using Mr. Kirk’s death to silence his opponents.

“If you don’t raise your voices right now about the assault on free speech, about Donald Trump’s decision to, disgustingly, exploit the murder of Charlie Kirk so as to try to permanently render powerless and impotent those who politically oppose him, there may be no democracy to save a year from now,” he said in a video posted to social media.

The pause on Mr. Kimmel’s show came about two months after CBS announced that it was canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which runs in the same time slot as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The cancellation of Mr. Colbert’s show similarly drew widespread criticism from fans.

At the time, CBS said the cancellation was a “purely financial decision” and not related to Mr. Colbert’s politics, which, as with Mr. Kimmel’s, are staunchly opposed to Mr. Trump’s. Mr. Colbert and Mr. Kimmel frequently make jokes about right-wing politics on their shows, and often use their opening monologues to criticize the Trump administration.

Mr. Trump applauded ABC’s move in a social media post from Britain, where he is on a state visit, calling it “Great News for America” and urging NBC to take the same step with its late-night lineup.

“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Mr. Trump said. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”

Other voices from the right also chimed in on social media.

Mark R. Levin, a conservative commentator, said that Mr. Kimmel should have been “canned a long time ago.”

“Better late than never,” Mr. Levin said.

Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor turned YouTube host, speculated about the response from viewers to Mr. Kimmel’s monologue.

“Just think for a minute about the amount of IRATE mail/viewer feedback they must have gotten to do this,” Ms. Kelly said in a post on X.

Shortly before the show’s pre-emption was announced on Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, called Mr. Kimmel a “disgrace” in a post on X.

Brit Hume, the Fox News political analyst, noted that ABC pulled Mr. Kimmel’s show hours after the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, suggested that the agency might take action against the network because of Mr. Kimmel’s remarks on his Monday telecast.

“The First Amendment does not protect performers like Jimmy Kimmel from being cancelled by their private sector employers,” Mr. Hume wrote on X. “But I would have liked the outcome a lot better if the chairman of the FCC had not involved himself in it.”

Yan Zhuang contributed reporting.