Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Defend 'Generous' Jimmy Kimmel in Rare Political Statement: 'First Amendment Is Very Important'

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have Jimmy Kimmel's back.

During the Wednesday, September 24, episode of Live With Kelly and Mark, the married co-hosts veered away from their typically non-political talk show commentary to show support for the fellow ABC television personality after he was suspended for nearly a week due to his comments about Charlie Kirk's assassination and Donald Trump.

Ripa and Consuelos praised Kimmel while defending the country's First Amendment rights to free speech in a rare political moment for the stars.

"Jimmy Kimmel returned to his show last night. And you know, listen — we know him personally and when I tell you he’s one of the kindest, most generous people that I know. Cares about his family, takes care of his crew, his staff, everybody. He really, really cares," Consuelos declared, as Ripa echoed that the comedian "cares about people" in general.

The Riverdale actor continued: "And his statements last night, I think, were on point. He understands both sides, he was very humble in his speech."

Ripa and Consuelos called Kimmel's monologue on Tuesday night, September 23, "very responsible," as he apologized for offending anyone with his "ill-timed" comments and insisted it "was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man."

"One thing we can all agree on as a country is that the First Amendment is very important," Consuelos noted after Kimmel's suspension from ABC caused concerns about a potential war on free speech.

"We do a light show here. We don’t talk about any politics here, we just don’t do it. We know that our fans at home want an escape from all of that, and we agree — we want an escape from all of that!" he admitted. "But I think it’s important, too, that we all are free. Because you never know — we can say something crazy and tomorrow we’re gone."

Ripa then joked how she says "crazy things all the time here," as Consuelos promised it's "not lost" on them that they are "sitting here in the Disney building, our home here."

The Husband for Hire actor said bringing Kimmel back was "the right thing to do" for "the company."

"And I have to tell you, and we can all agree here, even though we are a light, frothy… we are non-controversial. We are non-controversial," Ripa mentioned. "We are like melted ice cream. But even we are constantly in a position where we are checking what we’re about to say in our heads because we’ve come to this inflection point where no matter what you say, somebody is upset."

"And I think everybody needs to take a step back and really think. I have a right to speak and you have a right to say horrible things about me on Instagram," she quipped. "That’s the pleasure about living in a free society. That is important."

Consuelos pointed out how he has "plenty of friends on both sides" of the political spectrum, as his wife added: "Everybody’s welcome at our table."