The cohosts of The View devoted the first “Hot Topic” segment of the day on Wednesday’s (September 24) new episode to the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and his emotional opening monologue.

All of the cohosts had kind words to share about Jimmy Kimmel’s return, but for Whoopi Goldberg, it was particularly emblematic of something more important: individual liberty and the freedom to speak out against the government without retribution or silencing by officials.

“It’s your birthright as an American,” she said. “If you’re not happy with what’s going on, you’re allowed to say. If you don’t like how things are going, you’re allowed to. It is your birthright. That’s what that’s part of what makes you an American. It’s part of what makes us different than everybody else. And we acknowledge all of those Republicans who recognize that it’s not a right or left right. It is the right of all Americans. So if it goes for us on the left or the middle, it also goes for you on the right. So we want to make sure that everybody can still say and be who they want to be.”

She went on to, while briefly alluding to Donald Trump‘s controversial speech to the United Nations, add, “There is a great pride to still have in America, in spite of what you saw at the U.N. yesterday…. We are proud to be American. We’re proud to do what we do, and we’re proud that you all continue to watch us, whether you like what we’re saying or not. We appreciate you.”

Sara Haines praised Kimmel for clarifying that his words about Charlie Kirk‘s assassin weren’t meant to “mock a murder.” (On his September 16 show, which aired before ABC affiliates announced their intent to preempt and the network followed suit with a suspension, “We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it.”)

“He did everything perfectly. I think he touched on the most important parts, like the protection of freedom of speech, but he also so emotionally recognized that his intention was never to mock a murder, and I think that’s where comedians are unique. You really have to think about the person you’re criticizing, because oftentimes Canadians are here to remind us that we need to hold governments accountable. We need to be able to equal opportunity offenders. We’re trying to make people laugh. He was so clear on that,” Haines said. “I love that he really took time to say thank you to those people who disagree with me, because they deserve credit for speaking up in a moment that it was so crucial.”

Joy Behar pointed out that the attacks on Kimmel from Trump and the FCC chairperson, whose warnings of potential federal action preceded ABC’s decision, are consistent with what happens in dictatorships. “Trump is not the first one to do this. Putin, for example, his first actions when he took power was to was to take over a TV network that aired a comedy show that mocked him with puppets. In Iran, they’ve done the same, something similar. Even in Turkey, with Erdogan, they don’t like a comedians. Why? Because comedians tell the truth, make you laugh and it resonates with you. Yeah, and they do not like that,” she said. “It’s interesting because they call themselves strong men, but they actually are very weak men because they can’t take a joke.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin praised Kimmel for humbling himself in the situation and pointing to its broader implications, saying, “What I loved was that Jimmy Kimmel made this bigger than himself. That line was key to me: ‘The show is not important. What is important is that we live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.’ He talked about his staff of 200 people multiple times, fellow late-night hosts who’ve come under threat. He talked about these damning reports that the Pentagon is cracking down on free speech. He’s talking about something so much bigger than this particular drama, and I thought that that was big of him to realize that he’s a symbol of a struggle that’s going on, but speaks to the broader moment.”

Then, Sunny Hostin echoed Griffin’s point about reports that the Pentagon is now requiring reporters to agree that they will only report on pre-approved information. “Now that is scary, and Kimmel says, ‘I know that’s not as interesting as muzzling a comedian, but it’s so important to have a free press, and it is nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it,’ and I think that’s very, very important,” Hostin noted.

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC