The curtain is coming down on Jimmy Kimmel and his ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” next year, Page Six reported Tuesday.
“His contract is not getting extended,” a source familiar with the situation told the outlet.
If true, this means Kimmel’s 24-year run will come to an end when his contract expires in May. He’d leave as the second-longest-tenured late-night host in TV history, behind the legendary Johnny Carson.
The Disney-owned ABC is denying that Kimmel won’t be extended, telling Page Six, “[This] information is inaccurate—any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative.”
However, according to a TMZ source, “there is talk among the staff that Jimmy has been working on pitching other shows and podcasts around town.” (Though it’s hard to imagine what he will talk about after President Donald Trump ends his own run in January 2029.)
Kimmel being kaput would not come as a shock. His ratings have plummeted; he’s being pounded by Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” show on a nightly basis; the host himself has said he thought his show would end during the Joe Biden years; and a quarter-century is a dang impressive run for anybody. Plus “Jimmy Kimmel Live” costs a fortune to produce for little return.
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This final fact—more than his nightly diatribes against Trump and all who support him—is said to be the likely driving factor behind Kimmel’s show being pulled.
Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, according to Page Six, isn’t fazed by the president’s call for Kimmel’s canning or by the Federal Communications Commission investigating ABC’s broadcast license because of the network’s strong partisan bias. It’s about the dollars. The Mouse is cleaning house. Since taking over from former CEO Bob Iger, D’Amaro has been engaging in restructuring and cost-cutting across the Disney empire. A gaslighting, out-of-gas late-night show with a high-priced star is low-hanging fruit.
CBS made the same decision last year when it canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Still, the Trump Factor lingers. The president has not yet reacted to the news that ABC is reportedly parting ways with the host Trump calls “ZERO talent.” But it’s a sure bet he will. He’s had nicer things to say about the Iranian regime.
In April, Trump called for Kimmel to be fired after the host remarked that first lady Melania Trump “had a glow like an expectant widow,” a remark critics called an example of “assassination porn.” Days later came the third assassination attempt on the president.
In fact, the news of Kimmel’s potential cancelation comes the same week as the first anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Kimmel was briefly pulled off the air in the wake of Kirk’s murder after making the inaccurate, scathing claim that Kirk’s killer was MAGA.
“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,” he declared the Monday after the assassination, even though accused killer Tyler Robinson was already established as an Antifa-echoing, trans-loving, MAGA-loathing leftist.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr encouraged local broadcasters to yank Kimmel’s show and called for Disney to take action against the host. However, after a nationwide outcry in defense of Kimmel and free speech, ABC relented and reinstated Kimmel, even as local TV station owners Sinclair and Nexstar continued their suspension of the show for a bit longer.
His return—treated by the media like Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s return to the Philippines—sparked a brief ratings spike, which quickly dissipated.
This summer, Kimmel took a long break, leaving his show in the hands of guest hosts like fellow Trump-hater Rosie O’Donnell and musician Jelly Roll, who decided to alienate many of his fans by trashing the president.
Kimmel returned Tuesday night. Predictably, he used his monologue to rage against Trump, something he has joked helps him in the ratings.
But not enough. And if the reports are true, it looks like Trump will get the last laugh.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.
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