The hosts of "The View" are finally ready to talk Jimmy Kimmel.

The ABC talk show opened its Monday episode with a conversation about the network suspending Kimmel's late-night program following FCC pressure over comments he made about Charlie Kirk's killing.

"The View" had previously faced criticism for failing to address Kimmel's suspension. But on Sept. 22, the hosts wasted no time before getting into it and explaining their delay.

"Now, look, did y'all really think we weren't going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel?" cohost Whoopi Goldberg said immediately as the show began. "I mean, have you watched this show over the last 29 seasons? So you know no one silences us."

Goldberg told viewers that when news of Kimmel's suspension broke, "we took a breath to see if Jimmy was going to say anything about it first," which is why they didn't discuss it last Thursday, Sept. 18. They also didn't discuss the story on Friday, Sept. 19, because that episode was pre-taped, she noted.

"But we are live here today, and we're getting into it now," she said.

ABC suspended Kimmel's show on Sept. 17 after he said in a monologue that "the MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it." A suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, has been charged with Kirk's killing. According to court documents, Robinson's mother told police he had "started to lean more to the left" over the past year or so.

The suspension came after Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, pressured ABC to take action against Kimmel over the comments. ABC's move, and Carr's threats against the network, sparked widespread outcry in the entertainment industry. Kimmel has not addressed the suspension publicly.

The hosts of "The View" were highly critical of Kimmel's suspension on their Sept. 22 show, though they directed most of their ire at the Trump administration and Carr rather than ABC itself.

"The government cannot apply pressure to force someone to be silenced," Goldberg said, adding that President Donald Trump doesn't "understand how the First Amendment works."

Cohost Ana Navarro, meanwhile, bemoaned that the "horrible, senseless assassination" of Kirk is "being used to silence people and cancel people," and she thanked viewers "for demanding truth and courage from us" by pushing them to address Kimmel's suspension.

"The government itself is using its weight and power to bully and scare people into silence," Navarro said, adding, "This is what dictators and authoritarians do."

Sunny Hostin also said that Trump "should know what freedom of speech means," while Alyssa Farah Griffin warned about the "precedent" Kimmel's suspension will set. After two segments focused on the Kimmel news, "The View" moved on into an interview with Matthew McConaughey.

Bill Maher was among those who had previously criticized "The View" for not talking about Kimmel's suspension earlier.

"They didn't say anything about this this week," Maher said on his HBO show "Real Time" on Sept. 19. "Nothing. You know, because it's never been their thing to weigh in on the issues."

Maher also urged the show's hosts to talk about Kimmel without fearing retaliation, telling them, "Girls, go out strong, OK? It won't kill you. I promise."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The View' finally talks Jimmy Kimmel suspension after criticism: 'No one silences us'

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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