Did y’all really think we weren’t gonna talk about Jimmy Kimmel? I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, is returning to air. On September 22nd, the Walt Disney Company announced in a statement that after having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, the decision was reached to bring back the show on Tuesday, elaborating, “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It

is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were illtimed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.” The news comes the same day the co-hosts of The View, which include Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Hines, Sunonny Hston, Anna Navaro, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, broke their silence on the show being preempted following comments the comedian made about the man accused of

shooting Charlie Kirk. ABC had initially announced the previously called indefinite suspension last week, hours after the Federal Communications Commission’s chair, Brendan Carr, threatened to quote, “take action against the network and its parent company, Disney.” According to NBC News, while many celebrities and other comedians spoke out following the suspension news, viewers noticed that The View, which airs on ABC, did not comment.

 However, on Monday, Whoopi addressed the audience, explaining their initial silence. Did y’all really think we weren’t going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel? I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? So, you know, no one silences us. And to all my friends in Italy who reached out, you have to know it’s okay. We’re still here. We’re still broadcasting.

And when the news broke last week about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, we took a breath to see if Jimmy was going to say anything about it. First, we did the same thing with Stephen Cobear. Then our show was on tape on Friday. But we are live here today and we’re getting into it now. The EGOT winner then stressed that the government cannot quote apply pressure to force someone to be silenced.

 She then noted that politicians on both side of the aisle agree as they played a montage from Republican senators Ran Paul and Ted Cruz as well as Democratic Senator Chris Murphy criticizing the FCC commissioner’s comments. Do you believe that Brendan Carr’s comments were appropriate? absolutely inappropriate.

 The government’s got no business in it and the FCC was wrong to weigh in and I’ll fight any any any attempt by the government to get involved with speech. I will fight. We are quickly turning into a banana republic. The president of the United States is now employing the full power of the federal government, the FCC, the Department of Justice in order to punish, lock up, take down off the air all of his political enemies.

 I think what Brendan Carr has done at the FCC is illegal and unconstitutional. He says, “We can do this the easy way, but we can do this the hard way.” Yeah. And and I got to say that’s right out of Good Fellows. That that that’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, “Nice bar you have here.

 It’d be a shame if something happened to it.” I like Brennan Carr, but we should not be in this business. We should denounce it. Sunny, who is an attorney, also spoke about the protections of the First Amendment. Anna then chimed in, sharing how she lived under both a right-wing and left-wing dictatorship in Nicaragua, and censorship is part of their ideologies.

Look, you know, I have to tell you this. I lived through a right-wing dictatorship in Nicaragua, Samosa. I lived through a left-wing dictatorship in Nicaragua through with under Ortega. This is what dictators and authoritarians do. It does not matter the ideology. At first they come with the for the people with big platforms.

At first the silence the press. But then they come for all of us because their intent is to scare us into silence and selfcensorship. And look at the things that this government has done. They kick the AP out of the Oval Office for not saying Gulf of America. They cut the funding of NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

They are demanding reporters sign a pledge that reporters will only report on what the Pentagon wants them to report on. That is not how the First Amendment works. Alyssa and Sarah also addressed the topic with Alyssa warning how cracking down on free speech could set a precedent.

 What made me a conservative was the idea that in all the systems of government that have existed in human history, as imperfect as ours is, the Constitution gets it pretty damn right. The First Amendment is the first for a reason because you need to be able to hold those in power accountable. And what Ted Cruz later says says in an interview that I think is an incredibly important point, the pendulum swings in this country.

 Donald Trump is not going to be in power for a hundred years. It may feel that way to a lot of people right now. There will be a a time that the left is back in power. And I think the same conservatives who are backing this position, this crackdown on free speech, do not want a left-wing president policing what can be said on TV, how you can criticize your government.

 So think if it’s not about anything specific someone said, think about the precedent it sets down the road. ABC’s decision last week also came after NextStar Media Group, who is waiting on FCC approval for a $6.2 2 billion acquisition of Tegna per NBC News announced that they would preempt the talk show on their ABC affiliates for quote the foreseeable future.

 Sinclair Broadcast Group also chimed in saying they too are indefinitely preempting the show, adding that they would not lift the suspension until talks with ABC are held quote regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability. Sinclair also called on the comedian to issue an apology to the Kirk family and make a donation to both the family and Turning Point USA.

 Access Hollywood previously reached out to representatives of Kimmel, but did not hear back by time of publishing. [Music]