All of the late night comedians addressed ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday shows, but CBS’s Stephen Colbert’s reaction on The Late Show was especially bad. Not only did Colbert not see any problem in what Kimmel said, but he also teamed up with CNN host Jake Tapper and The New Yorker editor David Remnick to warn about the decay of press freedom in the Trump era.
Colbert wasted no time getting to the news and condemning ABC for their decision, “Welcome one and all to The Late Show. I’m your host, Stephen Colbert, but tonight we are all Jimmy Kimmel. I still have a show, though, right? Okay, good! Yesterday, after threats from Trump's FCC chair, ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel off the air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship. And it always starts small. You know, remember like in week one of his presidency. Gulf of America. Call it Gulf of America. Sure! Seems harmless. But with an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. And if ABC thinks that this is gonna satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive. And clearly they've never read the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Kimmel.”
Later, Colbert played the clip of Kimmel declaring, ““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 doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Not seeing what the big deal was, Colbert reacted, “Was that the clip? Really? 'Cause that's just Jimmy Kimmel. I mean, given the FCC's response, I was expecting something more, you know, provocative. That's like hearing that Playboy has a racy new centerfold and finding out it's just Jimmy Kimmel.”
Colbert then turned his outrage to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, “He went even further, sending a clear signal to broadcasters what their next move should be and throwing in a little implied threat.”
A clip of Carr showed him proclaiming, “I think that it's really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to preempt. We are not going to run Kimmel anymore, until you straighten this out.’ [jump cut] I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
Colbert lamented, “It feels to me like shutting down this type of speech would represent a serious threat to our freedoms.”
In the next segment, Colbert brought back his old Colbert Report character. The satirized conservative version of Colbert boasted, “Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, nation. I return tonight to rescue you from this free speech crisis. And I'm going to scream the answer loud and proud, no holds barred, with tonight's triumphant word: Shhhhhh! Nation-folk, America is facing perhaps its greatest crisis in 249 years.”
Fake Colbert did not seem to care about what Kimmel actually said:
You see, people are saying things that hurt Donald Trump's feelings… Now, you might think the Constitution coddlers out there argue that Americans are born with certain God-given rights, like life and liberty. And of course, the pursuit of happiness, but what about the pursuit of Donald Trump's happiness? And yes, it's true the words "Donald Trump" aren't in the Constitution. But ladies and gentlemen, I can say they are because I have freedom of speech. So, just how do you balance your rights with your duty not to make the commander-in-chief fill his Depends with tears?
Eventually Tapper would join the show, and he would try to compare what happened to Kimmel to what happened with Colbert, “Look, what happened to you, we think we know what happened. But it was all behind closed doors, right?”
Colbert hedged, “The network had a rationale that these shows had run their course in terms of their economic usefulness,” but Tapper wasn’t convinced, “The timing was, as the kids say, sus.”
He would also assert, “If we do not have the ability to criticize, mock, investigate our leaders, then we are no longer the United States of America… By the way, it was great to see that guy, I missed him, the Stephen Colbert.”
Again, Kimmel wasn’t suspended for mocking or criticizing Trump. He was suspended for irresponsible comments about the political identity of an assassin. Nevertheless, Tapper huffed, “Presidents have had an uneasy relationship with the press, but I have never seen anything like this.”
Finally, Colbert would ask Remnick, who in his previous life wrote a Pulitzer-winning book about the fall of the Soviet Union and was the Moscow correspondent for The Washington Post, “When Putin took power, he consolidated his power around '99 and right after that started rolling up, like, media. How would you compare what's happening now to what Putin did? There were three big networks in Russia.”
Remnick thought the comparison was appropriate, “There was real journalism on television and in newspapers and radio. It was exciting, it was productive, the world was full of debate. Putin came to power on New Year's night, 1999-2000. And, you know who he went after first? This will sound a little familiar to you: comedians.”
Between potential Disney boycotts and affiliates abandoning ship, ABC’s Kimmel problem is much bigger than Trump and Carr, but Colbert, Tapper, and Remnick all appear totally uninterested in what Kimmel actually said.
Here is a transcript for the September 18 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
9/18/2025
11:37 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Welcome one and all to The Late Show. I’m your host, Stephen Colbert, but tonight we are all Jimmy Kimmel. I still have a show, though, right? Okay, good! Yesterday, after threats from Trump's FCC chair, ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel off the air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship. And it always starts small. You know, remember like in week one of his presidency. Gulf of America. Call it Gulf of America. Sure! Seems harmless. But with an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. And if ABC thinks that this is gonna satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive. And clearly they've never read the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Kimmel.
…
Was that the clip? Really? 'Cause that's just Jimmy Kimmel. I mean, given the FCC's response, I was expecting something more, you know, provocative. That's like hearing that Playboy has a racy new centerfold and finding out it's just Jimmy Kimmel. But Brendan Carr, he went even further, sending a clear signal to broadcasters what their next move should be and throwing in a little implied threat.
BRENDAN CARR: I think that it's really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, "Listen, we are going to preempt. We are not going to run Kimmel anymore, until you straighten this out." [jump cut] I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
COLBERT: Classic good guy talk. "Joanne, would you make me the happiest man in the world? Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who has power over ABC's broadcast licenses, sounds like he's telling them to punish Kimmel or else. It feels to me like shutting down this type of speech would represent a serious threat to our freedoms.
And you know who else thinks that? Brendan Carr in 2020, when he tweeted "From internet memes to late-night comedians, political satire helps hold those in power accountable. Shutting down this type of political speech, especially at the urging of those targeted or threatened by its message, would represent a serious threat to our freedoms." Oh, man, do not tell Brendan Carr that Brendan Carr said that, or he's gonna get Brendan Carr to cancel Brendan Carr.
…
STEPHEN COLBERT [CHARACTER] Hello, feels good. Thank you. Thank you, my fellow Americans. Thank you so much. Hello, nation. Daddy's home. Yep, so drop trou and lay across my lap, 'cause I'm gonna spank you with freedom until I can see the American flag reflected in your shiny swollen asses.
Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, nation. I return tonight to rescue you from this free speech crisis. And I'm going to scream the answer loud and proud, no holds barred, with tonight's triumphant word: Shhhhhh! Nation-folk, America is facing perhaps its greatest crisis in 249 years. You see, people are saying things that hurt Donald Trump's feelings. Now usually, ladies and gentlemen, in the TV biz, if people are upset with something you do, the eyeballs and the advertising go somewhere else. That's called capitalism. But in this ABC case, the FCC had no choice but to slap down the invisible hand of the market. Now, you might think the Constitution coddlers out there argue that Americans are born with certain God-given rights, like life and liberty. And of course, the pursuit of happiness, but what about the pursuit of Donald Trump's happiness? And yes, it's true the words "Donald Trump" aren't in the Constitution. But ladies and gentlemen, I can say they are because I have freedom of speech. So, just how do you balance your rights with your duty not to make the commander-in-chief fill his Depends with tears?
…
COLBERT: How much of what we’re seeing, of what went down yesterday with Kimmel and ABC and Brendan Carr, and all of that, how much of that is a First Amendment issue versus the misuse of executive power by the presidency? Because, technically the First Amendment is “Congress shall make no law.”
JAKE TAPPER: Right.
COLBERT: But this isn't Congress making a law. Congress didn’t do anything. The president just pulled a few levers and popped him out of there like a stuck clam.
TAPPER: It was—look, what happened to you, we think we know what happened. But it was all behind closed doors, right?
COLBERT: A rationale. The network had a rationale that these shows had run their course in terms of their economic usefulness.
TAPPER: The timing was, as the kids say, sus.
…
TAPPER: If we do not have the ability to criticize, mock, investigate our leaders, then we are no longer the United States of America. You referenced George Washington in your Colbert — by the way, it was great to see that guy, I missed him, the Stephen Colbert.
COLBERT: It smells like cheap cologne over here now.
TAPPER: I've missed that musk, the, George Washington, my personal favorite Founding Father is a guy no one has ever heard of named Benjamin Franklin Bache, he was Benjamin Franklin’s grandson, he had Philadelphia newspaper and he ripped into George Washington. He covered the fact that Washington had slaves. Everybody’s like “Oh, George Washington doesn't even draw a salary.”
And his newspaper, “That’s because he Treasury as if it's his own bank account.” That is in the lifeblood of this country. He did the same to John Adams. John Adams passed the Alien and Sedition Act. Threw him in prison. That is where we are. And then it expired and since then, you know, presidents have had an uneasy relationship with the press, but I have never seen anything like this.
…
COLBERT: When Putin took power, he consolidated his power around '99 and right after that started rolling up, like, media.
DAVID REMNICK: That’s right.
COLBERT: How would you compare what's happening now to what Putin did? There were three big networks in Russia.
REMNICK: What happened under Gorbachev and then eventually Yeltsin and there were lots of flaws at the beginning of democracy or whatever it was called. But the most exhilarating thing, one of them, was the shoots of a free press. And there was real journalism on television and in newspapers and radio. It was exciting, it was productive, the world was full of debate. Putin came to power on New Year's night, 1999-2000. And, you know who he went after first? This will sound a little familiar to you: comedians.
