'We Are In A Dangerous Place': Mayor Biss Criticizes Suspension Of Jimmy Kimmel

EVANSTON, IL — Following the suspension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss criticized the decision, calling the action a direct threat to free speech and press freedom.

"What authoritarian governments do is they control what people say and eventually what people think, and that is dangerous. When they can use the economic power of the state to control who says what on television, we are in a dangerous dangerous place," Biss said on X.

This isn't just about Jimmy Kimmel, this is about Donald Trump controlling what any of us can say — or think. It's extremely dangerous, and a direct threat to free speech and press freedom. It's on all of us to speak out and push back right now. pic.twitter.com/4XxGCLWSPg
— Daniel Biss (@DanielBiss) September 18, 2025

Kimmel's late night show was suspended "indefinitely" on Wednesday, following the host's comments about the killing of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk. Nexstar Media Group Inc., which owns a number of ABC-affiliated stations, denounced Kimmel's comments, calling them offensive and insensitive.

During his monologue on Monday, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the
MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

"In between the finger pointing, there was, uh, grieving — on Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this,” Kimmel said, before cutting to a clip where President Donald Trump responded to reporters asking about how he was doing by pointing to construction at the White House.

Trump celebrated ABC's move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

He also targeted two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and said they should be canceled too, calling them “two total losers.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.