David Letterman has weighed in on Jimmy Kimmel Live! being indefinitely pulled off the air after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC over comments made by Kimmel about the death of Charlie Kirk.
According to Deadline, Letterman called the move “misery” while speaking at The Atlantic Festival on Thursday. “It’s ridiculous,” he said. “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office, that’s just not how this works.”
Then, Letterman leaned into his experience with cracking jokes about six different US presidents: “The point is beating up on these people, rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately in the name of comedy, not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC.”
“This guy [at] the FCC said, ‘We can do things the easy way. We can do things the hard way,’” he added. “Who is hiring these goons? Mario Puzo?”
David Letterman to Jeffrey Goldberg on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension: “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian—a criminal—administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.” #TAF25 pic.twitter.com/yJxXOXjlj4
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) September 18, 2025
