David Letterman has come out swinging.
The “great grandfather” of late-night television reacted to the news that Jimmy Kimmel Live! was put on pause by ABC after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the network over Kimmel’s comments about the killer of Charlie Kirk.
It’s ridiculous, and 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.
Letterman, speaking at The Atlantic Festival, called the move “misery”. “It’s ridiculous. 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.”
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The former host of The Late Show said that he had been texting with Kimmel after the move. “He’s sitting up in bed taking nourishment, he’s going to be fine.”
Letterman joked that he was doing the same thing for 30 years. “We all see where this going. It’s managed media and it’s no good,” he said.
He pointed out that he made jokes about six Presidents from President Jimmy Carter through to President Barack Obama, although laughed that “not so much” about Carter, he was a “sweet guy”.
“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,” he said.
Letterman also called out Brendan Carr. “This guy [at] the FCC said ‘We can do things the easy way. We can do things the hard way’. Who is hiring these goons? Mario Puzo,” he joked.
It comes two months after Letterman also shared his views on the cancelation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “I don’t think it was money,” Letterman said on a video on the Letterman YouTube channel. “This is pure cowardice.”