Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez Among 400 Celebs Supporting Jimmy Kimmel With Open Letter

Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and more stars signed an open letter from the ACLU in support of Jimmy Kimmel after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Sept. 17.

Jennifer Aniston will always be there for Jimmy Kimmel.

Less than a week after ABC announced its decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the late-night host’s comments on the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Friends alum and hundreds of Hollywood celebs signed an open letter by the American Civil Liberties Union condemning the action.

“Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation,” the letter, posted to the ACLU website Sept. 22, read, “marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

The ACLU also alleged that there were “efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation,” which they noted strikes “at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.”

“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,” the letter continued. “We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power—because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”

Joining Aniston in signing the open letter were a slew of stars like Selena Gomez, Jane Fonda, Tom Hanks, Olivia Rodrigo, Meryl Streep, Pedro Pascal and Rosie O’Donnell, as well as Jason Bateman, who—like Aniston—shares a close friendship with Kimmel.

In fact, Aniston, 56, Kimmel, 57, and Bateman, 56, along with Kimmel’s wife Molly McNearney and Bateman’s wife Amanda Anka, have often spent many a summer vacation together.

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Aniston even gave her longtime pal a special shoutout when celebrating the 20th anniversary of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2023.

“I would please like 20 more years,” she said during the celebratory episode, “because I don’t want you to ever leave my television set ‘cause you bring so much joy to myself and to the world.”

As for Jimmy, the TV personality has yet to publicly comment on his suspension, which was confirmed by an ABC spokesperson to NBC News on Sept. 17, noting that Jimmy Kimmel Live! “will be pre-empted indefinitely” after Kimmel’s Sept. 15 monologue, which included comments about Kirk’s suspected killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.

Michael Le Brecht/Disney via Getty Images

“The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said during the episode, “and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

The monologue sparked backlash from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, who said in an interview Sept. 17 that it was “the sickest conduct possible” following the shooting and threatened to “take action” against ABC and its parent company Disney, noting that the FCC could revoke ABC affiliates’ licenses.

New update

Jimmy Kimmel Returns: ABC Ends Suspension Starting Tuesday

The Walt Disney Company

Jimmy Kimmel will have more to say on late-night TV.

Disney and ABC will bring the comedian back to its schedule starting Tuesday night, after a decision to take his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” off the air for an indefinite period of time. “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.  It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the company said in a statement. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Disney’s decision to bench one of its signature personalities came after two major station owners, Nexstar Media and Sinclair, said they would pre-empt his program following a Kimmel monologue last Monday during which he offered remarks tied to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Those announcements came after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appeared to suggest to broadcasters they ought to work to curb Kimmel and force ABC to remove him from its schedule.

And yet, after Kimmel was taken off the air, Disney faced protest from the creative community. On Monday, 400 celebrities — including people like Martin Short and Tom Hanks, who have created memorable characters for Disney in the recent past — signed a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union decrying the blow the maneuver delivered to free speech in America. First Amendment advocates from both sides of the political aisle have decried the situation in recent days.

The decision to bring Kimmel back was approved by Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, and Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, according to a person familiar with the matter. The executives acted based on what was best for the company, this person said, and not on external factors. Indeed, it remains unclear if all ABC affiliates will air Kimmel’s program. Spokespersons for Nexstar and Sinclair could not be reached for immediate comment.

It is not clear if Kimmel will offer an apology for his remarks, but whatever he and Disney executives agreed to have him do will be seen Tuesday night. In the past, late-night hosts have had to tender apologies for remarks that offended, with David Letterman, Bill Maher and Samantha Bee among those who had to express regret for jokes or one-liners that caused more outrage than laughter.

The comedian offended conservatives by discussing some of the theories about Kirk’s death, caused by an assassin who shot him in Utah. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said. He also poked fun at President Trump’s response to a question from the press about how he was mourning Kirk’s death after Trump pivoted to a discussion of the construction of a new White House ballroom.

Disney’s decision to take Kimmel off the air put a new spotlight on how uncertain traditional media companies have become in an era when the White House and the Federal Communications Commission pounce on individual reports with comments and legal pushback. President Trump has in recent months sued both ABC News and CBS News for comments made by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos and the editing of an interview with former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on “60 Minutes.” In both cases, the companies agreed to pay multi-million dollar settlements, even though the legal cases were deemed to be quite flimsy by experts.

In a different era, late-night hosts were more measured in their commentary. Johnny Carson famously kept his politics to himself, while poking fun at whoever happened to be in the White House. In recent years, however, hot talk and political humor have driven social-media chatter and viral pass-along — and ratings. Meanwhile, the audiences for the programs have begun to dwindle, with an increasing number of would-be viewers opting to sift through clips of the various shows on social media the day after the original episodes aired. Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” on CBS has been the most watched of TV’s late-night programs as the host followed a theme of commenting on the latest headlines. For a good part of Colbert’s tenure on TV, President Trump has been at the center of them.

Such dynamics may be poised to cease. Paramount is getting out of the late-night business, and has canceled Colbert’s “Late Show,” which will end in May. While the company cited a downturn in advertising, there continue to be suspicions that Paramount Skydance’s new leader, David Ellison, wants to tamp down political sniping and is eager to cater to a more conservative base.

Kimmel’s return to wee-hours TV gives the comedian a little more time to enjoy his work. His current contract with ABC is expected to end in 2026, and people familiar with the host’s thinking say he’s been mulling stepping down from the role at some point in the near future. Whether that’s next year or after one or more new contract cycles remains to be seen.