Hollywood Stars Sign Open Letter Backing Jimmy Kimmel: Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston & More

7 weeks ago

Over 400 hundred Hollywood stars including Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep have signed an open letter by the American Civil Liberties Union condemning Disney's suspension of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' and supporting free speech.

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00:00Over 400 Hollywood stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep,

00:05have signed an open letter by the American Civil Liberties Union,

00:08condemning Disney's suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live and supporting free speech.

00:14The letter states,

00:16We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech.

00:20Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech

00:25strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.

00:28Some of the signatories include Selena Gomez, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Olivia Rodrigo,

00:35Michael Keaton, Regina King, Diego Luna, Natalie Portman, Martin Short, Kerry Washington, and Pedro Pascal,

00:42whose trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu movie was released this morning by Disney.

00:47The letter goes on to say,

00:48We know this moment is bigger than us and our industry.

00:51Teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students, and so many more

00:57are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression.

01:01The message closes by calling on all Americans to fight to defend our right to speak freely.

01:06Kimmel was suspended following a comment in his monologue about MAGA's reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk that went viral.

01:13FCC Chairman Brendan Carr then threatened affiliate broadcast licenses if they did not take action against the talk show host.

01:19This prompted affiliate owners Sinclair and Nextstar to say they would preempt the show,

01:24which spurred ABC to suspend Kimmel indefinitely.

01:27The move by the FCC and ABC has been followed by widespread condemnation,

01:31even among some Republican leaders such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz,

01:35and pledges to boycott Disney and its subsidiaries.

01:38For much more on this story and all the latest updates, go to THR.com.

01:42This is The Hollywood Reporter News.

Hollywood Stars Sign Open Letter Backing Jimmy Kimmel: Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston & More | THR News Video

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