Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert react to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

Jimmy Kimmel has not commented on the suspension following the remarks he made about the shooting death of Charlie Kirk on Monday.

Late-night hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert opened their shows Thursday by addressing the news of Jimmy Kimmel Live! being taken off the air “indefinitely” following remarks host Jimmy Kimmel made on Monday night about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

On Wednesday, ABC suspended Kimmel’s late-night show after comments he made about Kirk’s killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say they would not air the show.

Earlier on Thursday, The Daily Show announced on social media that Stewart would step in as host. He typically only hosts the Monday edition of the program.

“From Comedy Central, it’s the all-new, government-approved Daily Show, with your patriotically obedient host, Jon Stewart,” the show kicked off.

Halfway through the show, Stewart referenced Trump’s state visit to the U.K. this week and mentioned Trump’s comments about Kimmel during a press conference on Thursday with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, Starmer’s country house in the English town of Aylesbury.

When asked about the dismissal of Kimmel and free speech in America, Trump said, “Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else.”

“He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk. And Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago,” Trump continued. “So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”

Stewart began: “You may call it free speech in jolly old England, but in America, we have a little thing called the First Amendment, and let me tell you how it works.”