Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late-night show on Sept. 23 after a nearly week-long suspension.

Joe Rogan is warning Jimmy Kimmel's critics against celebrating his suspension.

The influential host of the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast has weighed in on ABC's decision to temporarily pull Kimmel off the air after facing pressure from the Federal Communications Commission over comments the comedian made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

"I definitely don't think that the government should be involved, ever, in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue," Rogan said in a podcast episode released on Sept. 23. "That's … crazy."

The former "Fear Factor" host, who endorsed President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election, also addressed conservative critics of Kimmel who were happy to see him pulled off the air.

"The companies, if they're being pressured by the government – so if that's real – and if people on the right are like, 'Yeah, go get him,' oh, my God. You're crazy. You're crazy for supporting this because this will be used on you," Rogan said.

He later added, "You can't support, in any way, shape, or form, the government censoring speech."

ABC temporarily suspended Kimmel's show on Sept. 17 after he said that the "MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize" the man charged with murdering Kirk as "anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

The suspension came after Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, slammed Kimmel's remarks and pressured ABC to take action against the comedian. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," he warned on political commentator Benny Johnson's YouTube show. Carr later denied that his comments were meant as a threat or that government pressure was the reason Kimmel was suspended.

On his podcast, Rogan argued the controversy would only "help" Kimmel and said it's "crazy" for Trump to be spending time posting on social media "that you don't like talk show hosts." He also praised Kimmel as a "good guy" and argued his original comments about Kirk that led to his show's suspension weren't "bad."

"It wasn't accurate, though," Rogan said. "But it wasn't bad. He was just trying to set up this joke of Trump, which was good."

Rogan made his comments on a podcast episode released the same day Kimmel returned to the air. In his monologue on his first show back, Kimmel said it was "never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man" and thanked those who supported him during his suspension.

"A government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn't like is anti-American," he said. "I am so glad we have some solidarity on that, from the right and the left and those in the middle like Joe Rogan. Maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on."

Kimmel also thanked Sen. Ted Cruz after the Texas Republican criticized Carr's actions, making a similar argument as Rogan.

"Maybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don't support my show or what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway," Kimmel said. "…It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration, and they did, and they deserve credit for it."

This story has been updated to include additional information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Rogan shares where he stands on Jimmy Kimmel's suspension

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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