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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Jimmy Kimmel Defends Free Speech In Return To TV; Ukraine's Zelenskyy To Address U.N. In The Coming Hours; Zelenskyy on U.S. Support: "Trump Is A Game Changer". Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 24, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:38]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. Good to have you with us this hour. I'm Erica Hill, in for Rahel.
It is Wednesday, September 24th. Top of the hour here, 5:00 a.m. in New York, 2:00 a.m. in Los Angeles.
And Jimmy Kimmel is back following a nearly week-long suspension. The comedian, back on-stage Tuesday night defending free speech and making plenty of jokes, including some about the president.
Executives at Disney and ABC had, of course, pulled the show over comments Kimmel made about the suspected killer of political activist Charlie Kirk.
His suspension, though sparking immediate fierce protests and a heated debate over free speech in the United States following threats from the chair of the FCC and other officials.
Kimmel received a standing ovation from audience members who interrupted his first monologue back with energetic applause. He did address the controversy directly, also speaking out against government threats. Setting the record straight about what he said before ABC took him off the air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": I've been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight, and the truth is, I don't think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference. If you like me, you like me. If you don't, you don't. I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind.
But I do want to make something clear, because its important to me as a human. And that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don't --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Kimmel also called out President Trump directly for specifically targeting late night hosts. Most of whom all defended Kimmel during his suspension.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: He was somehow able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS. Then he turned his sights on me, and now he's openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Jimmy Kimmel also brought some levity to the night by inviting actor Robert de Niro on for the show, playing the role of mob boss turned FCC chair. The two making light of threats from both President Trump and the real FCC chairman Brendan Carr. Those threats made to media companies in the past week.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR: It depends on what you want to say. Like you want to say something nice about the president's beautiful, thick, yellow hair, how he can do his makeup better than any broad, that's free.
(LAUGHTER)
KIMMEL: All right. That seems reasonable.
DE NIRO: But if you want to do a joke like he's so fat, he needs two seats on the Epstein jet, that's going to cost you.
(LAUGHTER)
KIMMEL: Okay, can I just ask just for clarity, because it's a pretty good joke. How much would that one cost me?
DE NIRO: A couple of fingers, maybe a tooth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Redefining free speech there in that bit. President Trump, for his part, well, unclear, but maybe he's threatening legal action against ABC over Kimmel's return. This is his post on Truth Social. Last night before Jimmy Kimmel show even aired, Trump saying that Kimmel's in his view, 99 percent positive coverage of what he calls Democrat garbage amounts to a major illegal campaign contribution. Trump went on to say the last time he went after ABC, they gave him $16 million. And as you can see, there then wrote, this one sounds even more lucrative.
Here's CNN's Brian Stelter with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey there. Yeah, with gratitude and also a note of defiance, Jimmy Kimmel showed that he is back, not just back on his late night talk show, but also back fostering a conversation about the state of free speech in the United States.
Kimmel had a lot to say after being sidelined for almost a week by ABC and his parent company, Disney. He expressed thanks to his bosses, although he also said he did not agree with the decision to put his show on pause last week amid the controversy over his remarks about the suspected killer of Charlie Kirk.
I thought it was really telling that, Kimmel said his particular show, his platform, is not important. What's important is that shows like his are able to exist at all. Here's what he said.
KIMMEL: This show -- this show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.
STELTER: Kimmel also predicted that ABC and parent company Disney would come under further scrutiny from President Trump and the Trump administration as a result of his show being reinstated.
[05:05:09]
Kimmel called this unfortunate and unjust and made a comment about President Trump being a leader who, quote, celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can't take a joke.
And Kimmel tried to broaden the conversation out, saying that this is about way more than an individual host or an individual show. He pointed out that President Trump has also singled out Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC's "Tonight Show", and Kimmel urged his viewers to speak out if Fallon or other comedians are also pressured.
Watch.
KIMMEL: Now, he's openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows, who don't make millions of dollars.
STELTER: Kimmel made only one passing reference to the fact that two major station owners, Nexstar and Sinclair, chose to preempt his show in many markets across the United States. This happened in dozens of cities and towns, essentially about 20 percent of the American viewing population wasn't able to watch the show at the usual time slot.
However, in the streaming era, pretty much everybody will be able to watch Kimmel's show now on sites like Disney+ and Hulu, and I suspect that in the coming days, we're going to see streaming data and Nielsen ratings that show. Kimmel probably had one of his biggest audiences ever.
Brian Stelter, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL: Of course, all of this unfolding at an interesting time for Disney to announce that it is raising subscription prices for its streaming service beginning October 21st. The ad supported plan, that's going up $2 a month to nearly $12, while the ad free plan is going to see a price hike of $3 a month. As you can see there, to just shy of $20 a month.
The increase coming at a time, of course, where the company is already facing significant consumer pushback and boycotts for the decision to temporarily take Kimmel off the air, something that Kimmel himself also addressed last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: A lot of people have been asking me if there are conditions for my return to the air, and there is one. Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and I agreed to do it. Here we go.
To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account.
(LAUGHTER)
KIMMEL: Open --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Joining me now, Alex Weprin, senior editor at "The Hollywood Reporter".
Alex, nice to see you in the wee hours of this morning.
It was -- it was quite a night last night. I have to admit. I did love that bit, because I was a little struck yesterday when the email hit my inbox, a news alert saying that Disney was raising its prices. The timing is really something here.
Overall, how -- how would you describe what you saw last night from Jimmy Kimmel?
ALEX WEPRIN, SENIOR EDITOR, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Yeah. Good morning, Erica.
Well, I will say that, you know, Kimmel really walked a tightrope last night. That is not an easy thing to do. Yet he was a funny, but also addressed serious topics. He showed contrition for his original comments he made last week. But he also tried to pivot, to kind of explain how he felt that, you know, the response was, you know, the backlash was perhaps a little bit too much. And it was government overreach. It was a really difficult thing to do. But I think he did a great job.
HILL: He did have a moment to he addressed the fact that a number of stations, the Sinclair and Nexstar broadcast stations, would not be airing the show that night. Not that, you know, people can't see it in other places. And yet, it is likely that this will be one of his highest rated shows of all time. WEPRIN: Yeah, absolutely. I think this could be one of the biggest
moments in recent late-night history, and certainly one of the biggest moments in the history of Jimmy Kimmel's show, in years on the air. So I'm very curious to see what the -- when the final numbers come in. I think it will be millions of people, you know, at least double what he normally gets, possibly more, and of course, millions more people are going to watch it online, either on Hulu, on Disney+ or on YouTube, where, you know, a lot of people are watching late night clips these days.
HILL: There was a lot at play here in the last week or so, as this has unfolded. There is the significant, important discussion about free speech in this country. There is very much a business angle to this. And Disney being hit in the pocketbook with all of those people canceling, of course, canceling their subscriptions. And feeling the push in other ways.
The president at one point had said that this was about Jimmy Kimmel's ratings, which we know that's not true. But when it comes to late night, late night has been struggling for some time.
Does what we saw over the past week and now the return of Jimmy Kimmel -- do you think that infuses new life into late night comedy and late night TV shows?
WEPRIN: I think it might give a little bit of relevance to late night, but it doesn't change the underlying economics. It is true that late night shows the ratings have been in long term decline.
[05:10:02]
They've been losing ad dollars over time. I don't think that's going to change. You know, the way people consume this type of content, it's shifting towards YouTube and Instagram and these social platforms. I don't think that's changing, but I do think that at least for a little while, these late night comedians are going to have some extra eyeballs on their shows.
HILL: They certainly will. And some of those eyeballs we know. I mean, we saw the president's Truth Social post about an hour or so before the show even aired complaining about Jimmy Kimmel complaining about late night comedy, which is not new territory for the president. But there has been this push. Even some guests on CNN last night with my colleague Abby Phillips saying, well, there should be more conservative joke writers.
Theres this idea of it has to be equal. It has to be one for one. And yet it's not clear who's making the decision as to what is, quote unquote, equal in terms of equal opportunity jokes. Is that something that you see changing in this moment, a push to tell a broader range of jokes or, or attack, if you will, common, common foils in a different way?
WEPRIN: Yeah. I mean, look, I don't think you're going to make Jimmy Kimmel change who he is. But one thing that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr did float last week is the possibility that the FCC could change the rules around equal time. Right now, the late night shows are exempt from equal time rules. So, if, for example, during the last years presidential campaign, Kimmel could have hosted Kamala Harris and he would, you know, they would not have had to give equal time to Trump.
So, the FCC has floated possibly changing those who in the future late night shows might have to, you know, balance out their guests or if they do have a Republican or Democratic candidate on the network, might have to give equal time to an opposing candidate. That is something I would look out for.
HILL: Is that -- would that also work out in? Because I think as people are trying to game that out, does that mean if, let's say, for example, Jimmy Kimmel makes a joke about President Trump, who is a Republican, he would have to make a joke about a Democrat?
WEPRIN: So, the equal time rules don't apply to jokes like that, right?
HILL: Yeah.
WEPRIN: So Kimmel would be able to say whatever jokes he wants. It's just about the guests. It's about the air time for candidates.
HILL: So --
WEPRIN: That is something I would keep an eye on.
HILL: Well, because and the reason I ask that is because it typically doesn't apply to jokes. It would be interesting to see if there may be. And to your point, something to look out for. A push to include jokes in that -- in that rule.
WEPRIN: I do wonder if some of the local station owners, like Nexstar or Sinclair, if maybe they push back a little bit more on Kimmel or some of the other late night shows? For that exact reason? I wouldn't be surprised. Like, you know, as I said on CNN last night, I think that car is kind of deputized these station owners to be a little more activist in pushing back on content that they find objectionable from their network partners.
HILL: It'd be interesting to see if we hear anything from the -- from the residents of those areas as well, in some of these different areas where they decided not to air the show. People who may have wanted to watch it, of course, everybody has the ability to not turn on the television. It'd be interesting to see if that is perhaps the next place where we will hear some vocal voices.
Alex, great to have you. Thank you.
WEPRIN: Thank you.
HILL: Still to come here this hour? President Trump signaling a big shift on the Ukraine war. How Vladimir Zelenskyy is now reacting to the new message.
Plus, as the threat of a U.S. government shutdown looms, the Republicans and Democrats still, perhaps not surprisingly, not on the same page. And the U.S. has a new bestselling beer. So, which one is a sip above the rest?
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:18:05]
HILL: We'll be hearing from Ukraine's president at day two of the United Nations General Assembly in the coming hours.
Vladimir Zelenskyy's address coming, of course, after talks with his American counterpart on the sidelines of the UNGA on Tuesday, a meeting that was followed by a surprise social media post from President Donald Trump, who signaled a possible change of perspective and a significant one at that on Russia's war in Ukraine.
Trump writing in part, Ukraine would be able to take back their country in its original form and who knows, maybe even go further than that, as he was encouraging Ukraine to continue fighting.
Here's how Zelenskyy responded to Trump's newfound show of support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Trump is a game changer by himself. If he will be sure in Ukraine, and I think that he is more close to now to this situation. And that's why -- and between us, only Trump can for today. We know some, not too much players in the world who can be game changers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining me now from Rome.
So, Ben, a lot of expectation about what we hear -- what we will hear from Zelenskyy today at the U.N.
Any insight into those remarks?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's fair to say, Erica, that after President Trump's statements yesterday at the U.N. and that Truth Social post that perhaps President Zelenskyy had to stay up late last night rewriting his speech because I think this is the most full-throated American -- let me say specifically, President Trump's most full-throated support for Ukraine since he became president in his second term back in January 20th.
We have seen that the president has blown hot and cold over Ukraine. And you will remember back in February, President Trump and Vice President Vance essentially verbally mugged President Zelenskyy back in the Oval, back in the oval office. So now we see this dramatic change of tone from the U.S. president, where he's talking about Ukraine being able to regain its five more or less lost regions, Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk, which are either fully or partially under Russian military occupation.
He's saying, go ahead, you can -- you can win those back. The question is, is the United States going to provide the support to allow Ukraine to win that territory back?
And president Trump, in that truth, social post, described Russia as a paper tiger.
Now, having spent a lot of time on the front lines of Ukraine, I certainly wouldn't describe the Russians as that. And in fact, Dmitry Peskov, the chief spokesman for the Kremlin, this morning told reporters that Russia is not a paper tiger. It is a real bear.
And just keeping in mind the turbulent relationship between the presidents of Ukraine and the United States and the changing tune. Back in March, Steve Witkoff, the U.S. envoy for Ukraine, Gaza and other places, actually said that the problem in between Russia and Ukraine is not the fact that Russia has invaded and occupied large parts of Ukraine, but rather that Ukraine doesn't recognize Russian control over parts of occupied Ukraine. So, it's a very confusing situation.
But at the moment, today, I think President Zelenskyy is going to be pretty confident when he speaks to the U.N. Security -- rather, General Assembly in New York. The question is, what will President Trump say tomorrow? Erica?
HILL: Yeah, it is the great unknown or even later today.
Ben, appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, the White House is now calling for an investigation after an escalator malfunctioned when Donald Trump arrived at the U.N. on Tuesday. A U.N. spokesperson said the escalators built in safety mechanism was triggered, and that caused it to stop, as you see here. The Trumps ultimately deciding to walk up the rest of the way on that escalator.
The president, for his part, later joked about the less than smooth welcome during his address to foreign leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn't in great shape, she would have fallen. But she's in great shape. We're both in good shape. We both stood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The White House press secretary has raised concerns over whether the incident was intentional, referencing a recent British newspaper article that claimed U.N. staff members had joked about deliberately turning off the escalators and elevators and telling President Trump they had run out of money. Jimmy Kimmel, making an emotional return to television after being
suspended under political pressure. The reaction from the audience and the politics surrounding free speech in the United States, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:27:48]
HILL: A standing ovation for Jimmy Kimmel for his first show back after nearly weeklong suspension by broadcaster ABC.
Fans of course, eager in the audience there to see Kimmel return to his program, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday night, cheering. They even chanted his name as he took the stage. Kimmel's show, of course, was sidelined by ABC last week after the Trump administration publicly pressured the company to punish the comedian for remarks about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Now that suspension drew a fierce and swift backlash against both ABC and its parent company, Disney.
Earlier today, I spoke with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein about the controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: If you look at the breadth of what we are watching in these first eight months -- I mean, it's not only free speech in the sense of using the FCC -- siccing the FCC on a TV, you know, host who is critical of him. But look at, you know, what this is of a piece with what's been going on with universities, with law firms, with directing the Justice Department to openly directing them to investigate his political rivals or arresting Democratic local officials, cutting off money to blue states and cities if they don't agree to policies that he is demanding.
You know, across the board, we are seeing a systematic effort from the administration to suppress dissent and to weaken any institution they consider an adversary. And, you know, you don't know what's going to become the flashpoint in that. It's kind of unlikely that it's a late night talk show host.
But I think Kimmel's monologue made very clear the stakes of what we are watching. You know, at this remarkable and really unprecedented moment in peace time in American history.
HILL: You know, to that point, Ron, I think there's a lot of -- and I would say myself, myself among them, a lot of people as were watching this are trying to figure out, what is this moment? Is this perhaps the start of something bigger, of more pushback? ABC, too, in this case, when we're talking about Disney, a little bit different than what we saw, right, with ABC News and George Stephanopoulos and that $16 million. When we look at this, there's the business part obviously for Disney.
But this widespread backlash that also brought together people in this country who rarely agree.
