Hamptonites Sound Off on Jimmy Kimmel Suspension & Return

Numerous Hamptonites, including colleagues and friends of Jimmy Kimmel, spoke out about the late night hosts suspension and reinstatement by ABC last week.

Montauk oceanfront homeowner Robert De Niro stole the spotlight on Sept. 23 when he made a surprise appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, playing a bold new “role”: chairman of President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.

Kimmel, who was returning after being taken off-air over controversial comments made about the murder of conservative personality Charlie Kirk, opened the show with an emotional monologue before De Niro appeared as FCC chair Brendan Carr. “You tell Whoopi over there, she better show a little respect, or the only view she’s getting is from under George Washington. The bridge, not the guy,” De Niro began, referring to The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg.

When Kimmel asked if he was threatening Goldberg, De Niro replied, “I would never threaten Miss Goldstein. I was just teaching a lesson about consequences.”

From there, the actor’s profanity-laced performance drew huge laughs and headlines. “What the f—k did you just say to me? I am the f–king FCC. I can f–king say whatever the f–k I want. Look, it’s just me, Jimmy, the chairman of the FCC, gently suggesting that you gently shut the f–k up.”

“Speech, it ain’t free no more. We’re charging by the word now,” De Niro said, adding, “Like if you want to say something nice about the president’s beautiful, thick, yellow hair…that’s free. But if you want to do a joke like he’s so fat he needs two seats on the Epstein jet, that’s gonna cost you.”

De Niro’s tongue-in-cheek defense of Kimmel was far from the only show of support from Hamptons residents. Southampton’s Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos praised their friend on ABC’s Live! on Sept. 24.

“We know him personally and when I tell you he’s one of the kindest, most generous people that I know. Cares about his family, takes care of his crew, his staff, everybody. He really, really cares,” Consuelos said.

“And his statements last night, I think, were on point. He understands both sides, he was very humble in his speech,” Consuelos continued. “One thing we can all agree on as a country is that the First Amendment is very important.”

“And I have to tell you… even we are constantly in a position where we are checking what we’re about to say… because we’ve come to this inflection point where no matter what you say, somebody is upset,” Ripa added. “I have a right to speak and you have a right to say horrible things about me on Instagram.”

Hamptonite Howard Stern, who is personal friends with Kimmel and proposed to his now-wife Beth Stern on Kimmel’s show, also spoke out after the late night host’s return and his first monologue back. “I thought he hit the right tone, I thought it was beautiful… Imagine the pressure… he had to come out and be the face of free speech, plus he’s representing Disney, plus he’s supposed to be f–king funny,” Stern said in a video released by his show of his comments on air. “Well done, Jimmy, you did a great job.” After the suspension, before Kimmel returned, Stern criticized the move by ABC and Disney and said he would be cancelling his Disney+ account, though he also pointed out that he felt for ABC which was put in a difficult position by the FCC.

And before Kimmel’s return, Sagaponack resident George Stephanopoulos shared the news on Good Morning America, saying the network’s license suspension was “the latest in a series of moves against the independent media from President Trump and his appointees.”

“To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on, and no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back,” Sagaponack local Jimmy Fallon also said in his own monologue after the controversy.

Supermodel Christie Brinkley of Bridgehampton expressed her frustration in an Instagram post. “The laughter they provide us is as important as the air we breath[e]!” she wrote alongside a photo of late-night hosts including Kimmel and Fallon on Instagram. “And they are taking another one of them off the air tonight! WE MUST PROTECT their and OUR 1st A[m]endment RIGHTS!!!!”