Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks Sign Letter After ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Live!

More than 400 celebrities have signed a letter in support of Jimmy Kimmel in the midst of his late-night talk show’s indefinite suspension.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published an open letter on Monday, Sept. 22, defending the constitutional right to free speech six days after Disney’s ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air. Along with the message are hundreds of major names in the entertainment industry standing “in solidarity” with the organization and Kimmel.

“We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech,” the letter begins. “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.”

“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,” it continues. “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.”

It went on to recognize others who “are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression,” such as “teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students and so many more.”

“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,” the letter reads. “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.”

It concludes: “This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation. We encourage all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights.”

In addition to Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and Tom Hanks, the letter was also signed by prominent Disney stars, such as Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short and Meryl Streep.

Others 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.

The late-night show, which Kimmel has hosted since 2003, was pulled by Disney’s ABC hours before its Sept. 17 broadcast following comments the comedian made on the program earlier that week regarding the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder and conservative commentator, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 during a campus event at Utah Valley University. Two days later, officials confirmed in a press conference that they had taken a suspect, Tyler Robinson, into custody, and he has since been charged with aggravated murder and six other counts.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with 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,” Kimmel began on Sept. 15. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued.

A clip then cut into Kimmel’s broadcast, showing Trump, 79, taking questions from reporters after the shooting, one of which offered their condolences for the death of the president’s “friend” Kirk.

When asked how he was holding up, Trump replied, “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”

Trump continued discussing the ballroom plans, saying the result would “be a beauty.”

The cameras then cut back to Kimmel. “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction,” the comedian said.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Nexstar Media’s broadcasting division president, Andrew Alford, called Kimmel’s comments “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” Nexstar is the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the U.S., with more than 200 television stations in 116 markets.

Alford added that the company doesn’t believe Kimmel’s comments “reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.”

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“Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue,” he told PEOPLE.

The news of the show being pulled from air followed Nexstar Media’s announcement that it would acquire rival broadcast company Tegna for $6.2 billion and place itself in 80% of America’s TV-owning households, per a press release. The acquisition that would require final approval from the Trump-controlled FCC.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr praised the decision, writing on X that “it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”

Sinclair, the broadcasting company that makes up the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, said in a press release on Sept. 17, that it “objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the assassination of Charlie Kirk” and, after discussions with ABC, made the decision to “indefinitely preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning that night.

“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair vice chairman Jason Smith said in a statement. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities.”

“We appreciate FCC Chairman [Brendan] Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks,” Smith added.

Sinclair also gave a list of demands for Kimmel to return to air. The company asked for there to be “formal discussions” held with ABC “regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”

It also asked for Kimmel to “issue a direct apology to the Kirk family” and for him to make a “meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA,” Kirk’s nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses.

Meanwhile, Trump said that the host was “fired for lack of talent” while at a state visit to the United Kingdom on Sept. 18.

“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great man named Charlie Kirk,” Trump said. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.”