Andy Cohen Speaks Out on Kimmel Pause: "Silencing Opponents Goes Against American Values - lulu

Andy Cohen is the latest late-night host to lend his support to Jimmy Kimmel.

The Watch What Happens Live host said he was very upset by ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air last week.

Speaking on his SiriusXM show, Cohen said, “I just want to say about this Jimmy Kimmel mess… I was very upset by this, and you should be too. First of all, I mean, Jimmy Kimmel who’s just one of the great guys of all time, top to bottom, the biggest heart, a great guy. You know, after this happened, the president said that he thinks people who criticize him should lose their broadcast license. Now, sit with that for a second if you think anyone is overreacting to this.”

“Imagine if Biden was going after Greg Gutfeld to lose his broadcast license. That’s called free speech. Silencing your enemies is un-American,” he added. “I hope in a moment in time where there seem to be no checks and balances for anything that’s happening out of D.C., I hope that good wins here.”

The Bravo star added that he has been “so gratified” to see Republicans including Ted Cruz say that this was wrong. “Ted Cruz coming out and saying this is an overreach by the FCC and Jimmy Kimmel has called Ted Cruz, a lot of names, so I thought, I was like, ‘Good for you, Ted Cruz’.”

On Wednesday, ABC indefinitely preempted Jimmy Kimmel Live! following a furor around Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer.

Kimmel, on his show last Monday night, said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”

FCC chairman Brendan Carr subsequently called threatened ABC to “find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead” and said that the comedian’s comments were “some of the sickest conduct possible”.

Hours later, local station group Nexstar revealed that it would “preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future” as it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk”. It was soon followed by similar comments from rival station group Sinclair.

Moments later, Disney made its own decision to pause the show.