Goldberg said when the news broke out last week, she and her co-hosts “took a breath” to see if Kimmel would say something first.
The panelists from ABC’s hit daytime show, The View, have broken their silence on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair said the agency should also “look into” their talk show next.
The View co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Ana Navarro, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin finally shared their opinions on their parent company’s decision to pull Kimmel’s show indefinitely.
“Now, look. Did y’all really think we weren’t going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel?” Goldberg said Monday as she opened the show. “I mean, have you watched the show over the last 29 seasons? So, you know. No one silences us.”
Goldberg said when the news broke out last week, she and her co-hosts “took a breath” to see if Kimmel would say something first.
“We did the same thing with Stephen Colbert.”
“The part that I don’t understand that is so ironic to me is how the horrible, senseless assassination of Charlie Kirk, a man I disagreed with, who stood for debate, who stood for freedom of speech, is being used to silence people and cancel people,” Navarro added.
FCC Under Scrutiny For Free Speech Concerns
On Sept. 15, Kimmel said during his monologue, “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.”
Kimmel added, “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving … you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
Then, after speaking on a conservative podcast, FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that Disney and ABC execs could deal with Kimmel. “The easy or hard way,” alluding to the fact that he wanted the media company to take action or face regulatory issues with the FCC down the line. Hours later, Kimmel’s show on ABC was suspended indefinitely from the air.
Carr, who has been a staunch supporter of freedom of speech and the FCC, has come under scrutiny, with critics saying he’s waging war on free speech by attempting to censor news agencies with which the Trump administration disagrees.
As NPR points out, Trump said on Air Force One Thursday that broadcast networks were “97% against me.”
“They give me only bad press,” said Trump. “They’re getting a license. I think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy. So we’ll see.”
According to NPR, Carr has launched formal investigations of all the major broadcast networks, except Fox, which is owned by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch.
CBS recently announced it was pulling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who has been a comedic critic of Trump, over a “financial decision.” Shortly after, the FCC approved the sale of the company Paramount to Skydance Media.
Since the public drawback and firestorm, ABC announced it would bring back Kimmel’s show on Tuesday.
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Source: Black Enterprise
