America Rallied for Jimmy Kimmel. Why Not for Trans People?
Where is this energy for trans people?
Less than a week after Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show was pulled “indefinitely” by ABC following the late-night host’s commentary on Charlie Kirk’s murder, his eponymous Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to the airwaves on Tuesday evening. The decision followed threats of retribution from Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr against the network and its parent company, ABC. In a now-controversial monologue, Kimmel pointed the finger at the Trump administration and the MAGA movement as “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
As the fate of Kimmel’s show hung in the balance, numerous A-list stars spoke out on his behalf. In an open letter spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union, household names like Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep said that ABC’s decision to censor Kimmel strikes “at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.” Damon Lindelof, co-creator of Lost and The Leftovers, vowed never to work with Disney or ABC until Kimmel was allowed back on air. Musicians Olivia Rodrigo and Sarah McLachlan pulled out of public appearances in solidarity with the embattled comedian. She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany and Supernatural actor Misha Collins openly urged fans to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions.
The outcry proved extremely effective in forcing ABC’s hand. As a flood of social media users posted screenshots of their nixed Hulu accounts (yet another Disney subsidiary), the Mouse House cited “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy” as motivating its decision to end Kimmel’s suspension. “After those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” the company said in a statement.
The return of Kimmel’s show is welcome news, less for the show’s frankly middling content than what its possible cancellation would say about America’s seeming swan dive into authoritarianism. Behind the scenes, the moratorium on Jimmy Kimmel Live! was largely an attempt to appease President Donald Trump following costly settlements with media companies he sued over coverage he disliked. In the past year, Paramount and Disney each paid him $16 million; those victories recently emboldened Trump to take action against The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (although the latter suit was thrown out of court).
A perceived victory over Kimmel would have only further exacerbated the president’s clampdown on dissent. After Kimmel was initially yanked from his slot, Trump had already begun targeting fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, calling for their termination. CBS already announced in July that it would be sunsetting The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in what the show’s namesake described as political payola, as its parent company awaits Trump administration approval of a corporate merger with Skydance. (Colbert is an outspoken Trump critic.)
But if ABC’s Kimmel flip-flop is a welcome reminder as to the effectiveness of collective action, it’s a bittersweet one amid the continued attacks on trans equality under the second Trump presidency. Since Trump resumed office in January, he has laid a nonstop siege to trans rights. The White House has targeted LGBTQ+ affirming schools, recently threatening a Denver district for having all-gender bathrooms. While banning gender-affirming care for trans government workers, the administration mandated that health care plans cover conversion therapy, the discredited, harmful practice of attempting to cure an LGBTQ+ person’s identity. Upon booting them from the military, the Air Force under Trump is denying trans troops retirement pay and won’t even grant them hearings to fight their discharges.
Each of these stories has received a pitiful fraction of the attention paid to Kimmel’s near-firing. As his battle with ABC remains front-page headlines (currently the top story on The New York Times’ website), less remarked upon is the recent revelations that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under Kash Patel is considering whether to declare the trans community and its allies as a terrorist group. That story, to date, has received little attention outside of a handful of queer and progressive news sites. (Compare the lack of mainstream indignation to the wall-to-wall coverage of Kirk’s killer allegedly having a trans girlfriend.)
There’s a prevailing sentiment among trans and nonbinary people that, as the Trump administration pushes to vilify us, allies have largely jumped ship. It’s hard not to feel that way, especially when compared to the fiery backlash that greeted attacks on trans rights nine years ago. When North Carolina passed the infamous anti-trans bathroom law HB 2 back in 2016, musicians lined up to declare that they would no longer perform in the state. High-profile boycotts included Bruce Springsteen, Nick Jonas, Ringo Starr, and Pearl Jam. Others like Brandi Carlile, Duran Duran, and Mumford and Sons donated proceeds from their concerts to LGBTQ+ groups. Beyoncé released a statement condemning HB 2 following her performance in the state, while Elton John wrote an essay about the law.
Say what you will about armchair activism, but when The Boss speaks up, people listen. Within a year, North Carolina lawmakers would vote to repeal and replace HB 2 with a compromise bill, largely over fears the local economy could suffer irreparable financial damage. With corporations like Apple, Deutsche Bank, Google, and PayPal joining in the national condemnation of North Carolina’s bathroom bill, observers estimated that the reputational damage would cost the state billions.
There is, to put it lightly, no equivalent to the outrage over HB 2 in 2025. Numerous major businesses have retreated from public support of the LGBTQ+ community in fear of drawing the ire of a resurgent far-right. And without googling the subject, it’s difficult to conjure a surfeit of celebrities who have continued to speak out strongly in support of trans equality. For every Alan Cumming wearing a trans rights pin to the Emmy Awards and Pedro Pascal declaring J.K. Rowling to be a “heinous loser,” there’s another star who has remained curiously, conspicuously silent. Many of our Democratic leaders, for their part, have taken the Gavin Newsom approach: simultaneously wishing to oppose Trump while courting his base for upcoming elections.
Imagine the difference if America’s major power brokers — and the people who follow them — were as loud for trans people as they have been for Kimmel. While celebrities don’t write laws, they do help guide the public’s attention. Outraged social media posts won’t make our federal government less transphobic overnight, but they show how strong our numbers are. These gestures, no matter how seemingly small, show that Americans still care and that they haven’t given up on the most marginalized. The trans community needs to hear that now more than ever.
I’m rooting for Jimmy Kimmel. I’m very glad that he has his show back. But I wish people were rooting for trans people just as much.
 | A guest post by
|
Some very good points made here. Transgender people need as many allies as they can get. But it always comes down to the bottom line, doesn't it? Many Hollywood types don't want to feel like they're alienating more conservative audiences just as they might not want to hurt their image in overseas markets by commenting on such a politically charged issue. And ultimately, that does betray the fact that they think so little of trans people already that they don't even consider the impact they, so often with huge followings, could have by speaking up for their most vulnerable fans. It is easier for them to advocate for Kimmel since the matter is right in their backyard. The McCarthy era alone saw the end of many performers' careers and with only a few exceptions, many of them never recovered; performers are terrified of facing such a possibility in an already fickle industry. To be clear, as Nico said, Kimmel deserves support. At this moment, Donald Trump is threatening ABC with more legal action for letting Kimmel back on the air—free speech violations are being committed in plain sight. But this country would look very different indeed if the same energy was thrown behind trans people and the LGBTQ+ community at large.
Please, if some of y'all out there have the power to put up a mass call to action like a prewritten email/phone script...we should be contacting our Senators and saying "no way" to gutting trans healthcare in the HHS Appropriations bill and NDAA. If more allies knew, I think they would take action, but no orgs are stepping up to create mass actions. I am trying to get them to.