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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Jimmy Kimmel Defends Free Speech As He Returns To Late-Night Television From Suspension; Disney Raises Prices For Streaming Packages; Trump Says Kyiv Can Win Back 'All Of Ukraine' After Talks With Zelenskyy; Macron Called Trump Over A Presidential Traffic Jam. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Wednesday morning. Welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Erica Hill. Rahel Solomon is off. It is Wednesday, September 24, 4:00 a.m. here in New York, 1:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, where Jimmy Kimmel just a short time ago of course was back live once again, the comedian making an emotional return to television after that nearly week long suspension.

Executives at Disney and ABC had pulled the show over comments Kimmel made in relation to the suspected killer of political activist Charlie Kirk. That suspension sparking almost immediate protests and heated debate about free speech in the United States following threats from the chair of the FCC and other officials.

Kimmel receiving a standing ovation from audience members on Tuesday, who interrupted his first monologue back with moments of energetic applause.

Kimmel addressed the controversy directly, speaking out against government threats to free speech, also ABC's decision to pull his show. He also set 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 it's 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Kimmel also called out President Trump for specifically targeting late night hosts, all of whom 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 understandably some levity to the discussion on free speech by inviting actor Robert De Niro on the show. It was quite a moment, quite a bit, as the two made light of the threats from both President Trump and the FCC chairman Brendan Carr. Those threats being made to media companies over the past week, also trying to define what they can and can't joke about. Take a look.

(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.

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 a cost.

KIMMEL: 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 two --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: President Trump, meantime, appeared to be threatening some legal action against ABC over Kimmel's return, posting on Truth Social Tuesday night before the show even aired, saying that Kimmel's 99 percent positive coverage of what he called 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, writing, this one sounds even more lucrative. Well ahead of the taping Tuesday, fans were ready to see Kimmel back on the air.

CNN's Stephanie Elam spoke with a number of people who were in the audience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jimmy Kimmel returned to ear- deafening applause from his audience. That's what we heard from people who actually attended the taping. In fact, take a listen to what some of the people who were inside for his show had to say to us about all they experienced there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been to shows before, and honestly, this one just felt different, but like in a way where people knew there was a gravity but also happiness just being back. You could tell they were being very careful about where they went with it. But also there was still the Jimmy Kimmel, the humor, everything else, the silly jokes and stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a pretty emotional show today. So, yes, he actually had some, some tears in his eyes at some moment. And the entire audience was with him 100 percent all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot about Donald Trump and about him, of course, and that's just a mistake that he made that cancelled the show.

[04:05:00]

ELAM: Now, throughout the day, there were a lot of people walking by here on Hollywood Boulevard, mainly because they wanted to see theater, some people who were just here as tourists. We talked to one man from Northern California as well as a woman from Tennessee, and both of them saying that it was important for Kimmel to come back and also for freedom of speech.

We also saw protesters out here earlier today supporting Jimmy Kimmel and his show, and we're hearing that from audience members as well, that they wanted to be in the audience for this taping because they believed in his right to free speech.

We also heard that some people just happened to have these tickets in advance and lucked up on being back on the first show in almost a week since Jimmy Kimmel got pulled. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Thanks to Stephanie Elam for that report. Well, all of this, of course, unfolding as Disney, ABC's parent company, you may have heard, is raising subscription prices for its streaming service starting October 24th. First, the ad supported plan will now cost $11.99amonth. That's up $2. The ad free plan, that's going up by $3 to just shy of $19 a month.

Hulu, ESPN and bundles containing Disney plus are also set to raise their prices. The increase, of course, coming at a time when the company is already facing consumer pushback and boycotts for temporarily taking Kimmel's show off the air, something that Kimmel also touched on 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining me now, Segun Oduolowu, who's an entertainment journalist and media personality. It's great to have you here. I have to say that there were a number of what I thought very funny moments, also poignant moments in that monologue last night. But I was wondering what was going to be said when he pulled that piece or piece of paper out of his pocket.

The reinstating of your Disney plus account was not on my bingo card, but a smart move in this moment because the company has really felt this in the pocketbook.

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, JOURNALIST AND MEDIA PERSONALITY: Yes, Erica, they have. Thank you for having me. You know, the great Don Olmeyer said in television, the answer to all your questions is money. And when you pull Jimmy Kimmel off and you see your stock prices go down, you are going to raise your subscription rates. Ding, ding, ding. Let's bring him back with a lot of fanfare and have a joke about him talking about, you know, reinstituting your Hulu service and everything, everything works out for the best.

And you forget that they're going to raise the rates a little bit. But like you said, I thought there were funny moments, poignant moments, and I think Jimmy knocked it out of the park.

HILL: Is there something those funny, those poignant moments in particular to you that you feel really met the moment?

ODUOLOWU: Yes. When his voice cracked about what happened to him, what he thought, what people thought he said, or what he was accused of saying, the way he kind of broke down, that he would never be so callous, so crass and so cruel to try and make light of someone dying.

And what I thought as a journalist that really bothered me is we never focused, or the public at large never focused on the totality of his statement, how he condemned being murdered for your beliefs or what you say, how he offered condolences to the widow of Charlie Kirk.

And he reiterated that again from the stage tonight. So for me, him really showing emotion that it bothered him that he was viewed that way, whether you thought it was funny, right, or find him funny or whatever, that you thought he was that kind of person really bothered Jimmy. And you could feel that was really part of the monologue.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. It struck me too. I was not surprised at all to see him go after Brendan Carr, the chair of the FCC, to see him go after President Trump. I did not, though, have Robert De Niro on my bingo card playing the new mob boss, slash new chair of the FCC. It was a moment.

ODUOLOWU: It was a moment and it was a perfect moment because De Niro is an outspoken or has been very outspoken with this current political regime that we now face. And having him, who has played mob bosses, mob men from "Casino" through "Goodfellas," you know, De Niro was the perfect guy.

But what I love that Jimmy did was show the hypocrisy of the FCC chairman, how years ago it was the FCC chairman who was championing satirists and late night talk show host, only now to kind of do a 180 tuck tail and kowtow. [04:10:08]

And basically from the bully pulpit, be a bully and say, we'll come after you. I love the way Jimmy highlighted the hypocrisy of the FCC chair and kind of this whole thing, you know, this tempest in a teapot, because again, he was taken off the air for what people perceived in he was implying about Charlie Kirk's murder, when in reality, Charlie Kirk was a staunch advocate of the First Amendment and free speech. Whether you liked what he said or he didn't, he fought for free speech. And so Jimmy to be pulled off the air for free speech seemed a really ugly irony.

HILL: It's also -- it is such an interesting moment. And it struck me how he, you know, certainly made an attempt to move this moment beyond the politics of it all, highlighting people who he disagrees with on a number of issues, highlighting the way that they, to your point, were calling this out and saying, look, you need free speech for everybody here. It can't be selective.

When we see that moment, he also highlighted different issues that I think are often painted as very divisive in this country. But he pointed out, and certainly we have the polling to show it, issues that actually have fairly widespread agreement.

He talked about affordable health care, which we know has been a passion for him, given his own family situation. He even talked about women's reproductive rights. There was actually high polling on that.

Do you think in any way this can begin to change the conversation in this country on a wider level?

ODUOLOWU: I can sincerely hope so with my hands clasped that it will. But Jimmy also said that, hey, look, I don't think that what I'm going to say is going to convince anyone you are in the corner that you're choosing to stand in.

But our differences, whether you're on the left side of the aisle or the right side of the aisle, are not as great as we think. Especially if you are a parent, especially if you're taking care of loved ones, especially if you have a small business, whatever it may be, our differences aren't that great.

But what is happening is we have sound and so much fury, and it signifies nothing that we can't hear each other anymore. We perceive what you said or what you meant. We assume the worst on either side, and there is no more discourse.

We don't have conversation to conversate. We have conversation now to change your mind, which means I'm not listening to your point. I'm trying to put it down so that mine can rule the day and by pulling Jimmy off what I think the overreach was is that there are people on either side who are afraid, hey, maybe they'll come for me next. Maybe they won't like what I say. And that is universal. Again, one of those differences that we aren't that far apart on. Free speech should be free. HILL: Yeah. If we all would just take a moment perhaps to listen, as

you so wisely point out. Segun, always good to talk to you. Appreciate it. Thanks.

ODUOLOWU: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: Still ahead here this hour on Early Start, President Trump signaling a big shift on the Ukraine war, how President Zelenskyy is reacting to the new message.

Plus, as the threat of a government shutdown looms, Democrats and Republicans still not on the same page and the president doesn't want to talk about it with Dems.

Plus, the U.S. has a new top selling beer. We'll tell you the leading logger, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:17:57]

HILL: Ukraine's president is due to speak at day two of the United Nations General Assembly in the coming hours. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address coming after talks with his American counterpart on the sidelines of the UNGA Tuesday. That meeting followed by a surprise social media post from President Trump who signaled a possible and significant change of perspective on Russia's war in Ukraine, writing on Truth Social in part, Ukraine would be able to take back their country to its original form and who knows, maybe even go further than that. Here's how Zelenskyy then responded to this new show of support from Trump.

(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 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 Kristen Holmes has more now on the latest with President Trump's sudden shift when his position on the war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump after a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy appearing to completely change his speech stance when it comes to the Russia Ukraine war. He posted this on Truth Social. He said after getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine, Russia military and economic situation and after seeing the economic trouble it has caused Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form. To be clear, this is not something that we have ever heard from

President Trump. If you go back to even that meeting in the Oval Office months ago with Zelenskyy where President Trump said you don't hold all the cards, you're going to have to give something up, that has been a pattern.

And we know that President Trump has been trying to get to a peace deal, but those talks have pretty much stalled.

[04:20:04]

He's been growing increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is not trying to schedule that sit down meeting with the Ukrainian president. It was supposed to be on the books weeks ago now.

So just a couple of things to keep in mind, it is unclear what exactly this means. Is this a threat, a shot across the bow to Putin, or does this mean that the U.S. is considering more tangible actions? One thing to note is we have reported time and time again over the past several months that President Trump would be near to sanctions, near to issuing some kind of punishment against Russia, against Putin, only to have the president walk back from the ledge there to actually not take any of that action.

So it's unclear again if this is going to be part of that. This is just him issuing a warning because he's unhappy about where the talks are going or if this means he has actually shifted his mindset. Kristen Holmes said CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Well, the White House is now calling for an investigation after an escalator malfunctioned at the U.N. as Donald Trump arrived. A U.N. spokesperson said the escalator's built in safety mechanism was triggered and that is what caused it to stop.

You see here as the Trumps stepped on, forcing them to then walk up the escalator. The U.S. President later joked about the less than smooth arrival during his address to foreign leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: 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 actually intentional, referencing a recent British newspaper article which 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. Traffic in New York City can be rough and anyone who's here during the

U.N. General Assembly knows that it's pretty miserable during this week. Turns out even world leaders can't escape it. The French president has found himself stuck in gridlock on Monday. You see him there, the streets blocked by President Trump's motorcade.

So what is a French president to do? Well, luckily he's got the U.S. President on speed dial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: How are you? Guess what? I'm waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So, President Macron there literally taking the incident in stride. He continued his trip on foot.

Coming up, Jimmy Kimmel making an emotional return to TV after being suspended under political pressure. Reaction from the audience and a look at the politics of it all, still to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a very powerful typhoon, the most powerful to hit the city this year. Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: A massive storm sending wind and waves crashing into Hong Kong. And to my colleague Hannah Montgomery. We'll check in with her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:27:33]

HILL: A rousing standing ovation and plenty of applause from the audience for Jimmy Kimmel at his first show back after that nearly week long suspension by broadcaster ABC.

Plenty of excitement there in the studio as Jimmy Kimmel made his return to the stage Tuesday night. As you can see the audience cheering, even chanting his name as he took the stage. Kimmel show, of course, was sidelined by ABC after the Trump administration publicly pressured the company to punish the comedian for remarks about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a suspension that drew immediate and fierce backlash against ABC and its parent company, Disney. Audience members described what it was like to be in the audience for his return on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been to shows before and honestly this one just felt different, but like in a way where people knew there was a gravity but also happiness. Just being back, you could tell they were being very careful about where they went with it. But also there was still the Jimmy Kimmel, the humor and everything else, the silly jokes and stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a pretty emotional show today. So yes, he actually had some tears in his eyes at some moment and the entire audience was with him 100 percent all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot about Donald Trump and about him, of course, and that's just it's a mistake that he made that canceled the show.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A short time ago I spoke with him about the controversy surrounding Kimmel's suspension.

(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 host who is critical of him but look at, you know, what were -- 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 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.

[04:30:05]