Angry late-night hosts call out 'assault' on free speech

US late-night comedians used their Thursday programmes to criticise government censorship following the suspension of their peer Jimmy Kimmel.

- JOHN BESLEY

Network ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from schedules on Wednesday after his comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The late-night comic made several remarks about the reaction to the assassination last week, including that “many in Maga-land are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk”. The network pulled the show after several ABC-affiliated stations refused to air it, objecting to comments Kimmel made during his shows on Monday and Tuesday.

Jon Stewart hosted a special edition of The Daily Show on Thursday, portraying what he described as a “patriotically obedient host” and satirically admonishing his studio audience for booing clips of US President Donald Trump.

He closed his opening monologue by stating: “Naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy. A thin gruel of a ruse. A smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance.

“Some people would say that. Not me, though, I think it’s great.”

Late Night with Seth Meyers took a similar tack on NBC, with the host telling his audience: “The [Trump] administration is pursuing a crackdown on free speech ... completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here that I’ve always admired and respected Mr Trump.”