The hosts of ABC’s The View gave high marks today to Jimmy Kimmel‘s return to air last night, praising their network-mate for, well, everything.

“He hit everything perfectly,” said co-host Sara Haines. “I think he touched on the most important part of 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 comedians are here to remind us that we need to hold governments accountable. We need to be able to be equal opportunity offenders.”

Watch the segment below.

Co-host Joy Behar noted that Kimmel follows in a long line of comedians targeted by “autocrats and dictators” for censorship in this country and beyond. “It’s interesting, because they call themselves strong men, but they actually are very weak men…I’m old enough to remember when the Smothers Brothers were taken off the air because they upset Nixon.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin, the show’s conservative voice, said, “What I loved is that Jimmy Kimmel made this bigger than himself…He talked about his staff of 200 people multiple times, his 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 talked about something so much bigger than this particular drama, and I thought that was big of him to realize that he’s a symbol of a struggle that’s going on that speaks to the broader moment. And then I loved him shouting out those people who disagree with him.”

Said Sunny Hostin, “I think this brought attention to the fact that the First Amendment is freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and it’s the first amendment for a reason, because I think our founding fathers thought it was one of the most important things that makes us American. [Kimmel] said that Pete Hegseth says he will require reporters to sign a pledge that they won’t report anything that didn’t explicitly authorize for release by the Department of Defense. Now that is scary.”

Moderator Whoopi Goldberg wrapped up the segment, at one point noting, “We want to make sure that everybody can still say and be who they want to be when they are here, when they are American, when people come to us. That’s why people still want to come to this country, because we offer rights to people that maybe people don’t get in other countries. There is a great pride to still have in America – in spite of what you saw in the UN 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.”