Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez join hundreds of celebs condemning Jimmy Kimmel show suspension

Hollywood A-listers, including Selena Gomez, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston, among others, signed the open letter by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), warning of the ‘dark moments for freedom of speech’, after Disney-owned ABC pulled ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ off the air, following the host’s comment on conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

As reported by foreign media, more than 400 Hollywood celebrities signed the letter by the ACLU on Monday, September 22, in their support of fellow entertainer, Jimmy Kimmel, less than a week after ABC put his late-night live show on an indefinite hiatus, due to the comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk, a close Donald Trump ally, who was shot dead on a Utah university campus.

Defending the constitutional right to free speech, the union penned in the letter, “We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech.”

“Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country,” the letter read further, before emphasising the latest incident. “Last week, Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation. In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board. This runs counter to the values our nation was built upon, and our Constitution guarantees.”

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The letter also mentioned that similar to entertainers and artists, others including ‘teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students and so many more are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression’.

“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. 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. This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation,” it concluded and urged ‘all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights’.

‘In solidarity’ with Kimmel, more than 400 Hollywood celebs, including Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short and Meryl Streep, among others, signed the letter.

Some of the other notable names on the list include Jason Bateman, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Rodrigo, Ben Stiller, Jean Smart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalie Portman, Maya Rudolph, Mark Ruffalo and Kerry Washington.