If the FCC and Disney were trying to make an example out of Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver isn’t following it. The Last Week Tonight host tore apart Disney and ABC’s decision to indefinitely suspendJimmy Kimmel Live! in a no holds barred monologue Sunday night that somehow (effectively!) managed to incorporate his appearance as the voice of Zazu in Disney’s live-actionLion King adaptationand the sentence “History is also going to remember the cowards who definitely knew better but still let things happen,” in less than a minute. Here it is in full:
“Hi there, Bob (Iger, Disney CEO). We haven’t met, but you probably know me as America’s third favorite Zazu. Congratulations on recasting that role, by the way. It was a fun thing to learn about after the fact. Anyway, one day, the history of the time we’re living through is going to be written, and when it is, I’m not sure it’s those in this administration who are even gonna come off the worst. Now don’t get me wrong, they’re going to come off terribly. But history is also going to remember the cowards who definitely knew better but still let things happen, whether it was for money, convenience or just comfort. I know this is something of a tough sell, and it can be a bit of anathema to risk-averse business leaders.
But I will say this. If we’ve learned nothing else from this administration’s second term so far, and I don’t think we have, is that giving the bully your lunch money doesn’t make him go away. It just makes him come back hungrier each time. They are never going to stop. They’ve literally said that openly. After Kimmel’s suspension, Trump posted, ‘That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers on fake news NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it, NBC.’ And [FCC chairman Brendan] Carr hinted that The View might be next. The fucking View! Look, at some point you’re going to have to draw a line. So I’d argue, why not draw it right here? And when they come to you with stupid ridiculous demands, picking fights that you know you could win in court instead of rolling over, why not stand up and use four key words they don’t tend to teach you in business school. Not ‘OK, you’re the boss.’ Not ‘Whatever you say goes.’ But instead, the only phrase that can genuinely make a weak bully go away. And that is, ‘Fuck you, make me.'”
This searing indictment came at the end of a long segment analyzing Kimmel’s suspension, in which Oliver also made his own comments on Charlie Kirk’s shooting and the general response to his death. “I was honestly inclined to wait to engage with the back and forth over who Charlie Kirk was and what his legacy will be, at least in part because we’re taping this on Saturday. His funeral hasn’t even taken place yet,” the host said. “What I will say is a person getting shot is tragic, and a person getting shot for their ideas is horrifying. That is true no matter what those ideas are. And I also recognize that for many, especially those who were the targets of some of Kirk’s ideas, it has been hard to stay quiet as they see flags lowered to half staff and hear claims that he debated things the ‘right way.'”Â
“But setting all of that aside, it does seem like some are now willing to weaponize Kirk’s death to do things they’ve been wanting to do for years, whether it’s going after liberal groups, trans people, or their remaining critics in the media, and under some shamelessly flimsy pretext,” he continued. “All of which brings us back to Jimmy Kimmel.” You can watch Oliver’s full monologue below:
