Jennifer Aniston makes a rare political comment:
Jennifer Aniston recently sat down with Elle as part of its “Women in Hollywood” cover series, and while she mostly discussed her own career, the “Friends” star also weighed in on what she called ABC’s “dangerous” suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in September.
“Unthinkable things are happening,” Aniston told the outlet. “It’s very dangerous and very unfortunate. But at the end of the day, we are the viewers. We subscribe to these networks and streaming services, so it really comes down to the people and their voices.”
She noted, “All those unsubscriptions say it all.”
Kimmel’s show was suspended for several days after he criticized the right-wing response to the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, following pressure from Brendan Carr, President Donald Trump’s appointee to the Federal Communications Commission.
Aniston never mentioned Trump during the interview published Wednesday.
However, he has a long-standing friendship with Kimmel and his wife Molly McNearney, who produces the show. Aniston also apparently encouraged her Instagram followers last year to vote for then-Democratic vice president candidate Kamala Harris.
The actor was undoubtedly right to point out the backlash to Kimmel’s suspension, as cancellation rates skyrocketed for Disney+ and Hulu (two major streaming services owned by ABC parent company Disney) amid widespread outcry from hundreds of celebrities.
The suspension was eventually lifted a few days after what Disney described in a statement as “thoughtful conversations.” Nexstar, the country’s largest television owner, said in its own statement at the time that it would continue to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Randy Holmes/ABC/Getty Images
“We all need to listen to both sides,” Aniston told Elle. “That’s what we’ve lost.”
He continued: “We’ve lost communication, we’ve lost sitting at the table and having a discussion that is productive, learning from each other. It seems like everyone is stuck in their positions and it’s my way or the highway, and that’s not how the world works.”
A group of former FCC chairs on Thursday called on the agency to abolish its “news distortion” policy, arguing that it has been “weaponized to chill press freedom” rather than used to punish broadcasters who have “deliberately distorted” the news.
Protect Democracy, a nonprofit among the petitioners, cited its use to suspend Kimmel.
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The group noted Carr’s invocation to “threaten ABC and Disney for airing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s commentary on the murder of Charlie Kirk, a clear example of how politics allows government officials to target the media for coverage perceived as critical.”