During an appearance on The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called for a boycott following Jimmy Kimmel Live! being taken off the air.

“They’re using the power of the government to go after businesses, to get them to do things that they need or want, right, either to pay them, as we have seen, or to fire people, as we have seen,” Pritzker said on last night’s show. The governor noted that “anybody that’s criticizing this administration, they’re using the power of the government to intimidate companies, to fire people.”

Pritzker’s not wrong here:

“Well, first, everybody should be saying that ABC should reverse their decision. This is not something they should be doing. I don’t think ABC—at least historically—has not been an organization that has exhibited this kind of behavior. But now we’re seeing the pressure that can be brought by the federal government. You can imagine the pressure that’s on Disney and ABC and on their business based upon, well, what’s been said so far today.

“And so I must say, I do not understand why people are not standing up and pushing back when they ought to, because what’s at stake here is free speech, it’s our Constitution and our way of life. Do we really want the president of the United States intimidating people, organizations to get others fired? This is not that moment. People ought to be standing up and speaking out.

“What can they do? Well, it’s what I’ve been saying for some time now, which is if we want to get action, we now can’t rely upon a MAGA-controlled Congress. We can’t rely on the President of the United States. Seemingly, although we’ll see whether can rely on the Supreme Court of the United States. Increasingly, it doesn’t appear that way. And so we only have one other thing to do, which is public action, people actually speaking up, speaking out, boycotting, showing up and protesting, and their representatives who agree with them doing the very same.”

On boycotting in response to ABC taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air:

“I think if we can work on ABC to make them understand how wrong the decision is. In other words, if people will write letters, write e-mails, post online, speak up, protest, that’s what I’m calling for. I think that it may be that ABC and Disney see that they may have made a mistake and they would reverse that decision. By the way, if they do that, you can see what happens when organizations and people stand up and push back. You can actually accomplish something. You can move the ball.

“I’ve seen that for the state of Illinois. We’ve seen that for the universities, where there are boards willing to step up and speak out and push back. It’s going to be a hard three plus years under Donald Trump. But I believe that there is momentum that can be gained by doing things like this. And the elections are coming up in November of 2026. And if in November of 2026, the public will show up at the ballot box and in the meantime, speak up with their megaphones and microphones, that I believe we can at least stop this intrusion on the Constitution, this kind of un-American behavior by the president for his last two years in office.”

Hollywood labor—SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, and the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada—issued a joint statement on Jimmy Kimmel:

The indefinite removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live under government pressure is not an isolated incident. It is part of a disturbing trend of increasing interference in creative expression. This kind of political pressure on broadcasters and artists chills free speech and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of working Americans.

When a private citizen, business, or television network bows to government intimidation, it strikes at the heart of our First Amendment rights. Creative artists must be free to do their work without fear that their careers or their family’s livelihoods will be disrupted simply for their opinions.

These cases pull the rug out from under the hardworking American workers behind the scenes who make these productions possible. At a time when America’s film and television industry is still struggling due to globalization and industry contraction, further unnecessary job losses only make a bad situation worse.

Finally, media companies have a responsibility to defend their workers and the integrity of the stories they tell. All broadcasters must stand firm in defense of free expression and the First Amendment, not capitulate to a policy of political appeasement.

In response to yesterday’s Jimmy Kimmel news, Senate and House Democrats have unveiled the No Political Enemies Act. What we are experiencing right now is a textbook definition of a First Amendment violation. The Red Scare is making a comeback and that was one of the darkest times in American history. What happened in the 1940s and 1950s is no different than what is taking place in 2025. It is an act of government abuse. By no means should appeasement ever be the answer. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr needs to resign. Furthermore, Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger will need to answer to Disney shareholders. This is the same Iger who previously took the fight to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

It’s bad enough that CBS is essentially forcing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the franchise as a whole to an end. They can say it was a financial decision all they want but we all know that it came after Paramount settled with the racist convicted felon, not to mention Paramount needing FCC approval to merge with Skydance. As Colbert said, the settlement was “a big fat bribe.” If late night comedians cannot do their jobs as satirists because of government intimidation, this is a problem. We all know how the felon celebrated Colbert’s show coming to an end and bragged that Jimmy Kimmel would be next.

It doesn’t matter how many agreements are made between media conglomerates and the racist convicted felon. It’s like the old saying, “if you give a mouse a cookie…” If you keep bending the knee and capitulating—as ABC did with Jimmy Kimmel—they’re going to keep taking similar actions. Should Colbert or Kimmel take their shows to YouTube, Apple, or Netflix, who is to stop the current regime from going after those companies? What started with Jimmy Kimmel may not end there.

As for what Gov. Pritzker said, I don’t think he’s wrong here. I’m lucky enough to live in a market where the major broadcast networks are owned-and-operated, meaning that they aren’t affiliates owned by another company. Jimmy Kimmel Live! should still be on the air right now. Sinclair can threaten him all they want but at the end of the day, I highly doubt that Jimmy Kimmel will make a meaningful donation to a far-right organization.

What happened to Jimmy Kimmel should concern every entertainer, every writer, and every viewer who values free speech. That’s why I am heavily weighing my options right now and leaning towards putting a complete pause on coverage of anything being released by the overall Walt Disney Company. This includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, National Geographic, Hulu, FX, ESPN, etc.

Until Disney and ABC reverse course and return Jimmy Kimmel to the airwaves, they’ll be hurting the very artists they employ—and as boycotts grow, the damage will only deepen.

When not suspended indefinitely, Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs every weeknight at 11:35 PM ET on ABC.

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