(19 Sep 2025)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 19 September 2025
1. Various of WGA East protest outside ABC Studios in NYC
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Wheeler, executive director of Writers Guild of America:
“I don’t think I need to tell this crowd that Donald Trump is a tyrant. I don’t think that I need to tell this crowd that Brendan Carr’s attack on ABC and its affiliates is an assault on the First Amendment. I don’t think I need tell this crowd that ABC’s capitulation to that attack is corporate cowardice at its absolute worst. (crowd cheers) What I do think I need to say, though, is that we are going to win.”
3. Various of protest
4. Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller, leads crowd in “Bring Jimmy back!” chant
5. Various of music at protest
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller:
“And we are not going to be silent while you silence, freedom of speech, for Jimmy Kimmel, for comedians, for news folks, or for anybody else.”
7. Various of protest
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller:
“And whether they’re tyrants like that Governor Cosby in 1734, or they’re tyrants like Brendan Carr, or their tyrants like Donald Trump, we show up to demand freedom of speech. We will not let you erode democracy. And then, when cowardly CEOs just thinking about their own pocket, think, ‘You know what? Maybe a little sacrifice of our democracy is fine.’ We show up immediately to say, no effing way are you gonna start firing comedians who do just what everybody in the business is supposed to do. Use satire, hold up a mirror, say what’s true, communicate. Do not let tyrants silence us.”
9. Various of protest
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda B. Rosenthal, assembly member for the 67th Assembly district, which includes the Upper West Side:
“Stephen Colbert first! Now we have Jimmy Kimmel. We know how this road and how this story goes. This is following in the path of Hungary, Russia, Turkey, North Korea soon. We will not let it get there, will we?” (crowd chants no)
11. Various of protest
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Greg Iwinski, late night writer and WGA member:
“Brendan Carr said that the reason this is happening is because so many people were calling the affiliates saying, I’m disgusted, I hate this, how can this be on TV? He’s lying. But what isn’t a lie is that we will tell our members, our fans, and our audiences to call those same affiliates, to tell those affiliates that freedom of speech is mandatory if we are going to watch their channels, if we’re going to support their networks, if we are going to subscribe to their streaming services. They must support freedom of speech, if we are going to support them.”
13. Various of protest
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Brad Hoylman-Sigal, New York State senator:
“It’s not just about comedy and ideas we know standing behind us it’s about the dollar. We know it’s about the fact that next door has a $6.1 billion dollar merger that is on the desk of Brendan Carr, and that Corporate bigwigs are desperate to get that across the finish line. Well, we know what’s more important than that, which is our First Amendment. Am I right about that?” (crowd cheers)
15. Various of protest
STORYLINE:
Film and TV writers gathered outside of ABC Studios in New York to voice support for Jimmy Kimmel and free speech.
ABC suspended his late-night show following the host’s comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, leaving the network’s parent company to decide whether supporting him is worth the risk to its business.
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