Howard Stern backed his longtime friend Jimmy Kimmel after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely in September 2025. On September 22, Stern said he had checked in with Kimmel, criticized what he viewed as government interference in speech, and said he was cancelling Disney+ in protest.
What Howard Stern said about Kimmel’s suspension
On his September 22 radio show, Stern said he had spoken with Kimmel to ask how he was doing. He described the conversation as a check-in about Kimmel’s wellbeing, not a discussion of the suspension’s details. Stern framed the controversy as a free-expression issue, saying, “I just know when the government begins to interfere, when the government says, ‘I’m not pleased with you, so we’re gonna orchestrate a way to silence you,’ it’s the wrong direction for our country.” The Howard Stern Show’s account reports his remarks and protest.
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Stern also said he was cancelling Disney+: “Now it might sound stupid, but the thing I did this morning, I’m canceling my Disney+.” He said he was “trying to say with the pocketbook” that he did not support what was being done to Kimmel. The announcement is evidence of Stern’s stated protest; it does not establish how long he kept the subscription cancelled.
A contemporaneous report attributed the fuller description “They did something really dumb and fuckin’ horrible” to Stern, referring to ABC’s action. Breitbart reported that exact wording; the quotation is Stern’s characterization, not a finding about ABC’s reasoning.
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What led to ABC’s decision
The suspension followed Kimmel’s remarks about reactions to Charlie Kirk’s killing, including his criticism of attempts to use the killing for political advantage. On September 17, ABC announced that it was preempting the show indefinitely. The Associated Press reported that this came after station group Nexstar said it would pull the program and amid public criticism from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who discussed possible regulatory consequences. The AP’s account of the suspension and ABC News’ report on the preemption describe that chronology.
Stern interpreted the events as government interference intended to silence Kimmel. That was Stern’s view. The cited reports establish the sequence of affiliate actions, Carr’s public comments and ABC’s announcement; they do not establish that the FCC formally ordered ABC to suspend the show or prove what motivated ABC’s internal decision.
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Kimmel returned the following week
ABC’s suspension was temporary. Kimmel returned on September 23, less than a week after the announcement. The AP reported that Disney said it decided on the return after “having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy.” Nexstar and Sinclair initially continued to preempt the program on their stations, so the network return did not mean every affiliate immediately aired it. The AP’s report on Kimmel’s return gives the follow-up chronology.
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