Pedro Pascal, known for his role as The Mandalorian, has expressed his views on the suspension of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
ABC recently took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely following a monologue by Kimmel concerning Charlie Kirk’s death.
In his opening remarks, the 57-year-old host told viewers: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company, which also produces Pascal’s series The Mandalorian and acquired Marvel Studios several years back.
This summer, Pascal became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, strengthening his connections with Disney.
In a post featuring a picture of himself and Kimmel, Pascal wrote: “Standing with you @jimmykimmellive Defend #FreeSpeech Defend #DEMOCRACY.”
However, Pascal’s comments were met with criticism, as some Instagram users pointed out his silence regarding the cancellation of Gina Carano, his co-star, in 2021.
“Can you show where you defended Gina Carano with her free speech that got her cancelled?? Or is it only because you approve of ‘this’ free speech and not ALL free speech?” read one comment.
“Pedro Pascal defending Jimmy Kimmel but not Gina Carano makes no sense. Double standards,” another user stated.
Carano, who starred in The Mandalorian, was dismissed by Disney after tweeting about face masks and promoting false voter fraud claims following the 2020 US presidential election.
After the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live, former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to express his satisfaction.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” he wrote.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
Jimmy Fallon, another talk show host, defended Kimmel on The Tonight Show, stating: “To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on — no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he is a decent, funny and loving guy. And I hope he comes back.”