David Letterman revealed he has spoken to Jimmy Kimmel after the comedian's late night talk show was dramatically pulled off air by ABC.
On Wednesday night, it was announced that the Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been suspended 'indefinitely' by the network after his comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Letterman has since spoken to Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic Festival in New York, where he called the suspension a 'misery' and part of a 'world of someone who's an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship.'
'It's ridiculous. You can't go around firing somebody because you're fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office, that's just not how this works,' he said on Thursday.
Letterman, 78, who formerly hosted Late Night, said he had heard from Kimmel, 57, via text on Thursday morning after the shock announcement.
He quipped: 'He's sitting up in bed taking nourishment. He's going to be fine.'
However, Letterman admitted he himself does not know what to 'think or say about this situation.'
The star joked that his own late night show aired through six Presidents - from President Jimmy Carter through to President Barack Obama, and attacked them 'mercilessly.'
'Beating up on these people, rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately, in the name of comedy, not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC,' he said, in reference to the Federal Communications Commission - an independent agency of the United States government that regulates media communications.
Letterman joins a legion of Hollywood celebrities who have rushed to defend Kimmel, who was taken off the air because of comments he made in his Monday night monologue.
During the controversial episode, Kimmel said: '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.'
The late-night host also poked fun at President Donald Trump's reaction to the shooting.
'This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend,' he said. 'This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.'
Shortly after ABC announced Kimmel had been suspended, Trump said: 'The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.
'Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.'
ABC confirmed the late night program had been pulled in a short statement.
'Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely,' the network said.
Following the fallout, ex-MSNBC star Keith Olbermann said Kirk should 'burn in hell' after ABC suspended Kimmel.
Olbermann blasted Kirk in a post on X, formerly Twitter, days after also blaming Trump for Kirk's murder on his Countdown podcast, saying: 'Charlie Kirk died because he lived in Donald Trump's America.'
Several others stars have also pushed back against the decision to suspend Kimmel, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Stiller, Henry Winkler and Alison Brie joining the ranks in opposition.
Ben Stiller jumped over to X to repost the news of ABC taking Kimmel off air and typed out: 'This isn't right.'
Singer John Legend shared a post by David Frum which read: 'How dare you call us fascists just because our appointees threaten government retaliation against broadcast networks if their comedians don't say what we want them to say.'
Political commentator and MSNBC host Chris Hayes tweeted: 'This is the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I've ever seen in my life and it's not even close.'
Kirk was shot dead last week at Utah Valley University aged 31.
The suspected shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, appeared in court on Tuesday on multiple charges, including aggravated murder.
Letterman previously spoke out about the cancelation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which was announced in May.
'I don't think it was money,' Letterman said on a video on the Letterman YouTube channel, declaring: 'This is pure cowardice.'
