Jimmy Kimmel Fans and Protesters Decry Trump, ICE Raids and Erosion of First Amendment Rights: ‘If He’s Shut Down, I’m Shut Down’

The shock of seeing Jimmy Kimmel abruptly yanked off the air this week after coming under fire from FCC chairman Brendan Carr, key ABC affiliate station owners and President Donald Trump was the final straw for many fans of Kimmel and late-night TV.

Several hundred people took part in protests Thursday after Disney and ABC opted to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live” indefinitely amid a MAGA media-fueled pressure campaign. Kimmel, who has long been a vocal critic of Trump, has come under fire over some of his remarks related to the Sept. 10 slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The turnout for hastily planned demonstrations Thursday outside Disney headquarters in Burbank and New York and Kimmel’s stage in Hollywood was small but passionate. The FCC chief’s unveiled threat against ABC and Disney over Kimmel stirred passions in die-hard Kimmel fans as well as everyday people alarmed at what they see as the erosion of social norms and civil liberties under the Trump administration. It also comes on the heels of the news that CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will be canceled at the close of the current season, following a 10-year run and after CBS had a huge legal run-in with Trump over “60 Minutes.”

Deborah Short, a resident of Hollywood, was quick to defend Kimmel. In her view, Kimmel is blameless.

“He didn’t say anything wrong. He represents me. If he’s shut down, I’m shut down,” said Short. “That’s it.”

Trudi Roth, a protester who stood outside Kimmel’s Hollywood Boulevard theater, said the compound effect of Colbert ending and now Kimmel under pressure is a warning about how Trump’s movement wants to reshape the mainstream media.

“First it was Colbert. Now it’s Kimmel. And what’s next? You? Me? We can’t just sit around and wait for for that to happen,” said Roth. “This is fascist creep, it just is.”

Outside the El Capitan Theater complex in Hollywood, where Kimmel has recorded his ABC late-night series since its debut in 2003, about 200 protesters spilled out into Hollywood Boulevard at times. Demonstrators carried signs slamming Disney, ABC, the FCC and the TV station group owners who dealt the fatal blow to Kimmel by declaring that he would be preempted in heartland markets such as Nashville, New Orleans and Salt Lake City.

Kimmel fans and many others said the surprise of the preemption news spurred them to action.

“This morning, I was driving to work and I was overcome with nausea that were losing our free speech in the country. I value the constitution. I’m a teacher, man. I see it all slipping away,” said a woman who identified herself as Bobbi and said she came from Ventura, about 65 miles north of Los Angeles.

Shammu Meyyappan, from Culver City, shared that sentiment.

“I was just really shocked,” Meyyappan said. “Jimmy Kimmel is, like, one of the biggest late-night hosts in the country, and if they could come for him, I don’t know what hope anyone else has. I kind of saw Jimmy Kimmel as a pretty universally liked, moderate figure and so I never thought that [he] would get taken off the air by ABC.”

Oscar Villanueva, a retired Los Angeles police officer, had tickets to be part of the studio audience of “Jimmy Kimmel Live’s” taping on Thursday. Once the news broke, Villanueva decided to make his voice of protest heard. He drew a parallel to the squeeze on Kimmel to the racial profiling and the brutality of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Los Angeles in recent weeks that have terrorized a range of immigrant and ethnic communities across Southern California.

“What Trump is trying to do, he’s trying to shut down our freedom of speech. He’s trying to make sure he wants to silence our voices, and that’s not fair. So we have to fight because if not, we’re going to end up with a dictatorship,” Villanueva said. “Racial profiling is illegal [but] what they’re doing right now with the immigration issue is that they’re kidnapping people off the streets where the only reason they stop some people is because of the color of their skin. And that’s not right.”

Villanueva held a homemade sign that said “We love Jimmy Kimmel” on one side and “Racial profiling is illegal” on the other.

“My wife and I have a lot of love for Jimmy because he speaks the truth,” Villanueva explained. “And a lot of people are now bending the knee because they’re afraid of what could happen. They’re more worried about their pocketbook than doing what’s right for the country. So I’m disappointed in Disney, I’m disappointed in ABC. I’m disappointed in [Disney CEO] Bob Iger, because all these men could be doing the right thing to defend and fight the power of the illegal things that Trump is trying to do.”

Bret Hembd, a Hollywood resident and attorney who said he specializes in representing whistleblowers, also sounded the alarm about the legal norms and federal protocols that have been bulldozed since Trump took office in January. He wants to see more people in the streets protesting the Trump administration’s overreach.

“We’ve been seeing months and months of him running an authoritarian playbook, crossing lines that politicians and presidents from both parties have not crossed, including eroding freedom of speech and other fundamental rights,” Hembd said. “As someone who’s an attorney, practices law and cares deeply about the rule of law, I’m extremely troubled by all of those actions. And this removal of Jimmy Kimmel, due to political intimidation, is just another manifestation of that. And I think ordinary people need to be out in the street, letting the government and letting their federal citizens know that that’s not acceptable.”

Cassandra Martinez agreed with other protesters that the clock is ticking on the public’s ability to affect change through the power of protest.

“We are losing our rights right now,” Martinez said. “If we lose free speech, we’re gonna lose them all. And that’s important to me that we don’t lose our rights. And that scares me a lot. So I’m asking everyone to not give up and to speak up while we still can.”

Julian Kelly, from the Silver Lake neighborhood of L.A., said it was the FCC’s actions that drove him to action.

“I’m not a great fan of anything the administration’s doing,” Kelly said. “But specifically the head of the FCC going on TV and calling out a particular dissenting voice, someone who he wants to pull off the air. is something that is, to my knowledge, very unprecedented in our country. I felt compelled to come out and do something.”

Erin McHale held a sign that read “Fascism” with the image of a Disney castle underneath. She sees media giants like Disney as having an obligation to stand up to power.

“I see this as the first step into, not even the first step, but the most obvious step into authoritarianism with the government controlling who’s on TV,” McHale said. “I’m disgusted, and I think Disney and ABC and all of our major media conglomerates have a responsibility to stand up to this bullshit.”

For Ruby Rose, an actor who is also working on a documentary film, the decision to take part in Thursday’s protest was personal, in part because she has been friends with members of his writing staff and production crew.

“I love Kimmel. He’s family. He’s an institution. He’s a really good human being. He’s just not the kind of person that says things to create a division. He’s really kind of a sensible man who I’ve always really trusted,” Rose said. “I feel like this is pretty unfair, especially to the crew and everyone else involved in the program. I just feel like we need to stand up right now.”

Ann Kriss, a retiree from North Hollywood, said she was angered by learning that Nexstar, the station group that dealt the first blow to Kimmel, happens to have a $6 billion merger review pending at the FCC.

“This is really infringing on our First Amendment rights, our rights to free speech,” Kriss said. “They’re being pressured by the Trump administration because both Disney and Nexstar need FCC approval for, like, billion dollar mergers, and they’re scared they’re not going to get that. So that is why they pulled Jimmy Kimmel.”

Carey Okrand described himself as a “patriotric, angry American” who is alarmed at the nation’s trajectory under Trump.

“I’m 72 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like this in my country. And I’m gonna fight like hell for the deomcracy. Because it’s disgusting what Trump is doing,” he said. “Violating the free speech. We have to stand up and fight back. I have no choice but to stand up and fight back for my children, for their children.”