“Seinfeld” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus warns President Donald Trump could take his crackdown on critics even further, arguing during the latest episode of her podcast “Wiser Than Me” that it’s always “the comedians who go down first” only for other voices to follow.
“I’m not sure how we got here, but all of a sudden we live in a world where facts are disputed,” said Louis-Dreyfus during her opening monologue. “They’re drowned in noise, and then they’re weaponized. It’s like there’s this attack on our ability to trust what we perceive.”
She continued, “And then confusion and a kind of numbed, stupification are the result.”
The Golden Globe winner went on to claim that art is of particular concern to authority figures because it can’t be refuted by noise or rhetoric, but makes its case “through feeling,” which “can’t be controlled” and is thus typically the first free speech domino to fall.
“I’ve done a lot of comedy in my career, and people don’t immediately think of comedy as part of the artist holding up the mirror to society thing, but of course that’s exactly what comedy does,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “And that’s why it’s the comedians who go down first.”
She continued, “The Stephen Colberts and Jimmy Kimmels.”
“The Late Show” was canceled last year after Colbert ripped CBS parent company Paramount Global for settling a $16 million lawsuit with Trump. The company was seeking approval at the time from the Federal Communications Commission for an $8 billion merger.
Trump celebrated news of the cancellation on his Truth Social platform at the time.
Kimmel’s ABC show was also pulled last year amid conservative backlash to his comments that Republicans were seizing on the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk to score political points. Trump once again celebrated the ouster, which was ultimately temporary.
In April, FCC chair Brendan Carr ordered early license reviews of Disney’s eight owned-and-operated ABC stations, potentially jeopardizing the future of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Its host has frequently criticized Trump, who has repeatedly called for Kimmel to be taken off the air.
Left: Richard Shotwell/Invision/Associated Press; Right: Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press
Kimmel hasn’t stopped cracking jokes about Trump even after the MAGA leader once again wished earlier this month for “three more limping Late Night Talk Show Hosts” to follow in Colbert’s footsteps. Kimmel has also poked fun at first lady Melania Trump.
“History can be rewritten and heroes removed, but it’s harder to erase how people react to a novel or a painting or a movie,” Louis-Dreyfus noted on her podcast. “I mean, that’s why they used to sneak rock and roll into the Soviet Union — people needed that forbidden feeling.”
Louis-Dreyfus never mentioned Trump by name during her pointed monologue, but did note that a play set in Gaza “or on the first tee at Mar-a-Lago” would “cause a bit of a fuss” these days, and urged any attempt at censorship to be met with resilient noncompliance.
“When there’s so much propaganda and chaos,” she said, “the artist’s job gets more essential and, frankly, more dangerous.”
Then she went on to add, “When our government sees artists as the enemy … that’s the start of something truly terrifying. It’s a very small step from here to punishing dissent itself.”