The View ignores fellow ABC personality Jimmy Kimmel's network suspension amid Donald Trump controversy

One day after their fellow ABC personality Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from the network amid political threats to the media, The View cohosts ignored the developments at their company and instead opened Thursday's live broadcast with a celebration of Sara Haines' "sexy dress" on her birthday.

Roughly one hour after President Barack Obama issued a statement condemning the Trump administration for "routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies" following the preempting of Kimmel's talk show, The View cohosts made their way to the stage before a giant image of Haines flashed on a screen behind them.

"Before we do anything, it's Sara's birthday!" moderator Whoopi Goldberg said when the cohosts took their seats, with Alyssa Farah Griffin commenting on Haines' "sexy dress" in her birthday photo.

The rest of the show went on without mention of Kimmel or his network suspension. Instead, the cohosts covered issues related to FBI director Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., romantic couples breaking up, and an interview with Eugene Levy.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for The View for more information.

President Obama commented on the matter earlier Thursday, saying that "this is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent" with regards to President Donald Trump and his administration's recent threatening statements aimed at media organizations.

Obama added that "media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it."

Jimmy Kimmel Live was put on hiatus indefinitely, a network spokesperson told EW Wednesday, after Nexstar Media Group, owner of local TV stations, announced that its ABC affiliates would preempt Live following Kimmel's comments about the alleged assassin of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.

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"We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said on Monday's show.

In a statement, Nexstar said that it "strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets."

Trump shared his thoughts about Kimmel's suspension on his Truth Social platform, where he wrote, "Great news for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel show is CANCELLED."

Other media figures, including MSNBC host Chris Hayes, strongly called out the suspension as "the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I've ever seen in my life and it's not even close."

The View has also come under fire from the Trump administration and other government officials, including FCC chair Brendan Carr, who told Fox News earlier this year that he felt the show might face "consequences" over what he perceived to be a liberal bias.

The White House has also issued several statements to EW targeting cohosts of The View, while the president recently told ABC's Jonathan Karl at a White House press conference that he'd "probably go after" him and his parent network.

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During a September 2024 interview with EW, comedian and staunch Trump critic Kathy Griffin looked ahead to Trump's second term, predicting that he'd go after comedians — and named Kimmel specifically.

"If he gets re-elected, he'll go after Jimmy Kimmel, he'll go after Jon Stewart, all the name ones, but he'll go after Rosie O'Donnell. That’s all he's going to do all day," she said. "He'll have press conferences about it. He's so much crazier than he was the first go-round."

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.