Molly Ringwald is drawing a line in the sand for Jimmy Kimmel, though some people are wondering what exactly she’s putting on the line. In a new interview with Parade magazine, the actress said she’s ready to quit Hollywood if the FCC doesn’t leave the late-night host alone.
“Simply put, this is censorship. We as professionals cannot accept this,” she said. Ringwald added that she is willing to make a personal sacrifice. “I am prepared to step down and take a stand.”
That’s when the interview took a turn. The reporter politely mentioned that Ringwald’s last job on record was a Campbell Soup commercial in 2018. In other words, stepping down might not involve stepping very far.
Ringwald wasn’t having it. “That has nothing to do with it,” she replied. Truly, nothing in this whole saga seems to have anything to do with anything.
Ringwald’s name still carries weight with a certain generation. In the 1980s, she starred in a string of John Hughes classics that turned her into a pop culture icon. “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” and “Pretty in Pink” are still beloved today, and many fans who grew up watching them have fond memories of her.
But the decades since have been much quieter. She has appeared in a handful of TV roles and smaller projects, and, yes, a soup commercial. That’s why her threat to leave Hollywood struck many readers as more symbolic than serious.
“It’s like announcing you’re boycotting a restaurant you stopped going to in 2018,” said Alexa Bruno, an entertainment blogger from Chicago. “The restaurant probably won’t notice.”
Kimmel himself seems to be doing just fine. His show is still on the air, and he hasn’t stopped taking shots at his critics during his monologues. If he’s being silenced, it’s happening very loudly.
The interview quickly went viral. Fans of Ringwald praised her for using her platform to speak out. Critics joked that the Campbell Soup company was the real winner, since it now had the most famous retired spokesperson in America. One user posted a picture of a can of tomato soup with the caption “stay strong, Molly.”
There’s a familiar pattern to celebrity protests like this. Someone famous makes a dramatic promise, the internet reacts, and a few weeks later everyone has moved on. Few of the stars who vowed to leave the country or quit their careers ever actually did.
Ringwald may be different. She clearly feels strongly about the issue, and she seems to believe that artists need to stick together. But for her threat to really land, Hollywood would need to feel the loss.
As of now, no studios have commented on the possibility of losing her. Neither has the FCC. Kimmel hasn’t responded either. And somewhere in a grocery aisle, a can of Campbell’s soup sits quietly on the shelf, wondering what it has to do with any of this.
