Piers Morgan and John Cleese clash over the late night show host following his statements about Charlie Kirk and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
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John Cleese and Piers Morgan go to war over Jimmy Kimmel
John Cleese and Piers Morgan have taken swipes at each other on social media over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! following remarks the host made about the d3ath of Charlie Kirk.
Earlier this month, Kirk was sh0t and k!lled while talking at a university in Utah. In a monologue on his late night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel spoke about the right-wing activist and his d3ath, accusing other right-wing people, who he dubbed the “MAGA gang”, of using it to “score political points” and suggested the killer was “one of them”.
Kimmel faced backlash for his statements, particularly from President Trump and Brendan Carr, a Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who pushed for Kimmel’s show to be taken off air. ABC, the network that aired Jimmy Kimmel Live! slapped the show with an indefinite suspension.
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Jimmy Kimmel was suspended after receiving backlash to his comments on Charlie Kirk’s d3ath(Image: Getty Images for UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation)
Morgan reacted to the news of the suspension and the outrage of many of Kimmel’s fans and colleagues. He wrote: “Jimmy Kimmel lied about Charlie Kirk’s assassin being MAGA, this caused understandable outrage all over America, prompted TV station owners to say they wouldn’t air him, and he’s now been suspended by his employers. Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?”
US politician replied to the post, saying that Morgan “missed the point”, to which John Cleese responded: “This from Piers Morgan. Who has made a fortune working for Rupert Murdoch.”
Cleese’s dig at the Good Morning Britain host prompted retaliation from Morgan. “You took Rupert’s money too, you flaming old hypocrite,” he wrote. “I’m just proud of it.”
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Morgan called Cleese a “faming old hypocrite”(Image: Getty Images)
The fighting continued throughout the week as Cleese started a separate thread to continue to bash Morgan. “I see Piers Morgan says he’s proud to have worked with Rupert Murdock, the man who had done more contaminate Britain’s journalism than anyone else. Tells us all we need to know about Piers, whose only talent is associating himself with people much better known than himself.”
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Morgan replied by saying that Cleese’s former Monty Python castmates “loathe” him: “a) Rupert’s much nicer than you… even your fellow Pythons loathe you. b) I’m way more famous than you, which is why I have nearly twice as many followers.”
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According to Morgan, all of Cleese’s Monty Python castmates “loathe” him(Image: Getty Images)
Meanwhile, fans of Jimmy Kimmel have continued to be concerned for the future of his show. Kimmel was reportedly told the show could return to air if he apologised for his remarks about Kirk’s d3ath and it is believed that his business and legal representatives are in discussion with ABC and its parent company, Disney, about reaching a compromise to get Kimmel back on the air. However, details about Kimmel’s contract revealed that it will expire soon, and the show may quietly disappear with it.
President Trump praised ABC for suspending Kimmel and called for Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to be removed as well. On Truth Social, he congratulated ABC for “finally having the courage to do what had to be done” and added: “That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
This comes shortly after a lawsuit Trump opened against CBS is speculated to have resulted in the axing of Stephen Colbert’s late night show. Colbert has come to the defence of his friend after recent events, saying: “With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100%.”
