Indianapolis native and late-night talk show legend David Letterman weighed in on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, calling it “no good.”
ABC indefinitely pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the air following pressure from the Federal Communications Commission.
“This is a misery,” former “Late Show” host Letterman said during a Sept. 18 appearance at The Atlantic Festival. “In the world of somebody who is an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later, everyone is going to be touched.”
“I feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. It’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous,” Letterman said. “And 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. That’s just not how this works.”
ABC said on Sept. 17 that Kimmel’s show has been “pre-empted indefinitely” after Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC, slammed the comedian’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing and pressured the network to take action.
Kimmel had said on his show on Sept. 15. that “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.”
In July, Letterman, a Ball State University alum who hosted “Late Night with David Letterman” from 1982 to 1993 and “Late Show with David Letterman” from 1993 to 2015, also called CBS parent company Paramount Global “gutless” and “pure cowardice” for its cancellation of “The Late Show,” now helmed by Stephen Colbert.
While CBS said it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” critics accused the network of ending the show to appease Trump, given Colbert is a prominent critic of the president.
During the Atlantic event, Letterman noted that during his years of hosting late-night shows and regularly criticizing the current presidential administration, “Not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agencies, let alone the dreaded FCC.”
“The institution of the president of the United States ought to be bigger than a guy doing a talk show,” he said, adding that the situation “would be hilarious if it wasn’t all leading to something from which we won’t recover.”
Letterman also said he has texted with Kimmel, who he joked is “sitting up in bed taking nourishment” and is “going to be fine.”
Letterman currently hosts the Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.”
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY.
Contact Midwest Connect reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cjackson@gannett.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com: @cherylvjackson or Bluesky: @cherylvjackson.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: David Letterman weighs in on Jimmy Kimmel suspension: ‘This is misery’
Reporting by Cheryl V. Jackson and Brendan Morrow, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
