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The View has finally addressed Jimmy Kimmel‘s late night talk show being taken off the air ‘indefinitely’ after previously staying silent for two episodes.
Last week, the ABC program had faced a barrage of backlash from viewers after the panel failed to make any mention about Jimmy Kimmel Live! being pulled off the air by its parent network.
But on Monday’s episode, Whoopi Goldberg led the charge and implored that ‘no one silences us’ while fellow co-stars Ana Navarro, Alyssa Farrah Griffin, Sara Haines, and Sunny Hostin also had their say.
Kicking off the episode, Whoopi, 69, began: ‘Now look. 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.’
She continued: ‘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 Colbert. Then our show was on tape on Friday, but we are live here today and we’re getting into it now.’
Whoopi then stressed: ‘To be clear, you cannot like a show and it can go off the air, someone can say something they shouldn’t and get taken off the air, but the government cannot apply pressure to force someone to be silenced.’
Whoopi Goldberg kicked off Monday’s episode of The View with a response to ABC taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely
Kimmel’s ABC show was taken off the air last week due to his comments about Charlie Kirk’s assasination
Ana jumped in and added: ‘I don’t understand how in this country, where the First Amendment was made to the Constitution to guarantee freedom of the press and freedom of speech, how the government itself is using its weight and power to bully and scare people into silence.’
‘The First Amendment is the first for a reason, because you need to be able to hold those in power accountable,’ Alyssa said.
‘We talk about freedom of speech a lot because we are always in somebody’s mess because somebody has decided that we have said something that’s offensive,’ Whoopi continued.
‘But we fight for everybody’s right to have freedom of speech because it means my speech is free, it means your speech is free.’
Kimmel’s show was suspended last Wednesday (September 17) after comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination during his September 15 episode.
During the controversial scenes, he said: ‘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.’
The late-night host also poked fun at President Donald Trump’s reaction to the shooting.
‘This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend,’ he said. ‘This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.’
On Thursday, The View was accused by viewers of ‘purposefully avoiding’ any mention of ABC’s suspension.
During the episode, which aired September 18, the cohosts made no reference to their network’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! ‘indefinitely’ and instead they focussed their attention on the Epstein files investigation and ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez’s testimony about RFK Jr.
Friday’s episode was pre-recorded.
Fans of The View had been expecting the panelists to discuss the fallout surrounding Kimmel, especially given they have been outspoken about Donald Trump and free speech in the past.
