Colbert mocks Kimmel suspension with parody video: ‘Shut your trap’
Related Video: Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Ignites Free Speech FIRESTORM (Posted Sept. 18, 2025)
CBS’s Stephen Colbert mocked the suspension of comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show with a parody video of Disney character Lumière wearing a MAGA hat and commanding employees to keep quiet — or get their shows pulled.
“Listen up,” Lumière says in the video, which aired on Thursday’s “The Late Show.” “In light of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, ABC’s parent company Walt Disney Corporation has a little message for all the employees.”
Lumière then puts his MAGA hat on with a flourish, gesturing to silverware with the names of networks owned by the Walt Disney Company, including ABC, Hulu and ESPN.
“Shut your trap, shut your trap,” Lumière sings. The short song, a parody of “Be Our Guest” from the 1991 Disney movie “Beauty and the Beast,” takes shots at President Trump and ABC, which has pulled Kimmel’s show “indefinitely.”
“So don’t you make a scene, or mention Jeff Epstein, or your show will be scrapped,” Lumière continues. “Shut your trap.”
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show on Wednesday following outrage over his comments about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s death.
In a Monday episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Kimmel joked that Trump was mourning Kirk “the way a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
He also said that MAGA was “desperately” trying to characterize Kirk’s killer as “anything other than one of them.”
Brendan Carr, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair, criticized his comments as “truly sick” and encouraged local station owners to “step up” and decide whether or not they wanted to carry ABC’s national programming.
Following the interview, Nexstar, The Hill’s parent company and the largest broadcaster of local news in the country, and Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate in the US, said they would preempt Kimmel’s show.
ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension shortly after, with Trump and Carr both praising the decision.
Colbert’s defense of Kimmel follows the cancellation of his own show by CBS, which will end next May. The network said the cancellation was “purely a financial decision” but free speech advocates still expressed concern.
Other late-night hosts have also flocked to Kimmel’s defense, criticizing the Trump administration and praising Kimmel.
“We have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show,” Jon Stewart said sarcastically in a special edition of “The Daily Show” on Thursday. He went on to continue to sarcastically praise Trump throughout the segment.
Comedian Jimmy Fallon called Kimmel a “decent, funny and loving guy” and said that he hoped his show returned to the air.