Stephen Colbert dramatically declared “we are all Jimmy Kimmel” during his Thursday night taping of “The Late Show” in a cringey monologue about ABC’s firing of his fellow late-night host.
“Tonight we are all Jimmy Kimmel,” the lame duck CBS host opened the solemn episode wholly dedicated to his peer during its taping in Midtown Manhattan.
“Yesterday after threats from Trump’s FCC chair, ABC yanked Kimmel off the air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship,” Colbert, 61, told the audience.
“With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch,” the host said in apparent reference to President Trump.
Colbert railed against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s “unprecedented decision” and pushed back against the claim Kimmel fell short of “community values.”
“Well you know what my values are, buster? Freedom of speech,” Colbert said to applause. “People across the country are shocked about this blatant assault on free speech.”
“To Jimmy, let me just say I stand with you and your staff 100% — and also you couldn’t let me enjoy this for one week?” he said, while holding up his freshly won Emmy.
The host then unabashedly played the controversial Charlie Kirk monologue that forced Kimmel into his final bow.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said during his now infamous monologue.
“That’s just Jimmy Kimmel. Given the FCC’s response, I was expecting something more provocative,” Colbert told his studio audience. “That’s like hearing Playboy has a racy centerfold or finding out that it’s just Jimmy Kimmel.”
Colbert’s guests, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Remnick, both shared their shock at Kimmel’s firing and contributed to the downtrodden and mournful tone of the show.
“If we do not have the ability to criticize, mock, investigate our leaders then we are no longer the United States of America,” Tapper said during his interview.
CBS announced in July that both Colbert’s tenure and “The Late Show” itself would be ending after this season, but the funnyman had relatively kind words for the network before the show’s taping.
“I’ll say this for my network. They wouldn’t have done this. Now regardless of what you think, that has already been done and how that looks, this is weak. This is blatant censorship,” Colbert said during a Q&A before the taping.
Kimmel himself had a similar reaction to CBS giving Colbert the hook back in July.
“Love you Stephen. F–k you and all your Sheldons CBS,” Kimmel wrote on his personal Instagram story during a summer vacation from his ABC show, appearing to reference CBS’s hit “The Big Bang Theory” spinoff, “Young Sheldon.”
Unlike Kimmel, Colbert will have time to say goodbye to his audience, with the historic late night program dropping its final curtain at the end of May 2026.
The ABC host, 57, was yanked from the air on Wednesday after he controversially claimed in a monologue Tuesday that Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson was “MAGA.”
Kimmel learned that he had already had his last laugh during a phone call with top Disney exec Dana Walden on Wednesday afternoon, Deadline reported.
The host was planning on doubling down on his criticism of Trump and Kirk on Wednesday’s show and has refused to apologize for his comments, that report stated.
Meanwhile, CBS executives claimed that their motivation for canceling Colbert was “purely financial” and was part of the network’s adjusting to the shifting late-night television landscape.
The firing came not long after Colbert criticized CBS’ parent company Paramount for agreeing to a multi-million dollar settlement after being sued by President Trump for $20 billion.
Colbert gave an emotional speech after winning the Emmy for “Outstanding Talk Series” on Sunday in which he thanked CBS for the “privilege to be part of the ‘Late Night’ tradition.”
