Kimmel's chances of returning to ABC post look increasingly slim

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s chances of returning to his late-night perch looked increasingly slim Thursday, a day after ABC announced it was indefinitely suspending him under pressure from affiliates and President Trump’s administration.  

Industry observers along with voices on both the political right and left offered differing rationales for why Kimmel was unlikely to return to the small screen any time soon.

But across the political and media worlds, there was near-universal agreement that it was doubtful Kimmel will make a comeback after losing his desk in a sudden move on Wednesday night.

Some voices saw the reason for Kimmel’s suspension — remarks about the political background of the man suspected of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk — as being an excuse for a company to cut an expensive property who had fallen out with some viewers, all as late-night shows have lost some of their cultural appeal.

“Everyone wants to make this about right-wing cancel culture, but this was a long time coming for Kimmel,” one national Republican political operative told The Hill on Thursday.

“This was a financially necessary decision for ABC, which clearly saw the anti-Trump garbage he had been pumping out for years as a liability.”

Trump for years has criticized all of the late-night hosts, knocking them for their ratings and taking offense at the frequent barbs they’ve made against him. Kimmel has been a frequent target, with the two trading insults.

Just last year, Kimmel reacted in real time to Trump’s criticism on social media as he hosted the Oscars. “Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars?” Trump wrote in March 2024 — a post Kimmel then read from the stage.

“His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be,” Kimmel deadpanned, reading Trump’s post.

“Isn’t it past your jail time?” Kimmel then said of the president.

The acrimony led Trump on Wednesday night to celebrate Kimmel’s downfall, while on Thursday he went further, saying stations should lose their licenses if “all they do is hit Trump.”

Trump accused shows like Kimmel’s of being “an arm of the Democratic Party.”

Eric Schiffer, a Hollywood PR and branding executive, said Trump’s irritation with Kimmel made his departure from ABC a likely outcome, particularly after CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Colbert is another critic of Trump, and the decision to end his show, which will carry on until the spring, was made amid merger talks between Skydance and Paramount, the owner of CBS. The deal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the announcement that Colbert’s show was ending.

“There’s a lot of fear and anger in the industry. At the same time, this is pure economics. Disney made a choice they didn’t want to hurt their stock or other opportunities by facing further government intervention or the president bashing them constantly,” said Schiffer, who added that it was unlikely Kimmel would return.

Deadline reported this week Kimmel told executives at Disney he was unwilling to apologize for his remarks about Kirk before he was suspended, casting further doubt on any chance of a comeback for the late-night star.

Nexstar Media Group, which owns NewsNation and The Hill, among other properties, announced shortly before ABC said Kimmel would be indefinitely suspended that its affiliate stations in dozens of local markets would drop the comedian’s show indefinitely over his remarks.

Nexstar, which recently announced plans to acquire rival company Tegna as part of a massive deal that will require FCC approval, acted after FCC Chair Brandon Carr said on a podcast with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson that “licensed broadcasters” needed to push back at ABC over Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk.

Democrats on Thursday criticized Trump, Carr and ABC while arguing the administration’s actions represented an attack on the First Amendment.

“I’m just amazed that the big, powerful entities like whatever the TV station was that he was on, they just caved so fast,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told reporters on Thursday. “I feel like the wealthy businesses and leadership classes are showing a complete lack of backbone.”  

“All Jimmy Kimmel did was speak,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said Thursday on the House floor. “It’s not freedom when a private company decides to shut down speech to avoid punishment from the government. And that needs to end now.”

FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, a frequent critic of Carr, said the agency “cannot allow an inexcusable act of political violence to be twisted into a justification for government censorship and control."

“This FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes,” Gomez added.

Several Republicans, however, said Kimmel deserved to be taken off the air for his comments about Kirk.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) told NewsNation’s Joe Khalil that Kimmel was a “major TV host who said something completely false and highly derogatory to a family man who had just been murdered.”

“Like, every business has a right to fire someone that they don't want representing their business anymore. That's exactly what they did. And let's be honest, his ratings have been falling for years,” he said. “This guy's just not funny. He's annoying. He's hyperpoliticized all the time. People are sick of this, like political commentary infused with their comedy. You know, it's not comedy anymore.”

Like each of the three major late-night comedy shows, Kimmel has experienced ratings declines in recent months and routinely ranks behind “The Late Show” with Colbert.

When CBS canceled “The Late Show,” its parent company Paramount said the move was a financially necessary one, while ABC has given no details about the finances of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” or its plans for their top comedian moving forward.

Many of the late-night shows have meanwhile failed to retain significant viewership on streaming platforms, as more consumers turn away from traditional broadcast channels and as tech companies like Netflix move aggressively into the live comedy and entertainment business.

ABC was the first major media company to agree to pay Trump a multimillion-dollar settlement after being sued by the president last year, followed by Paramount this summer ahead of its blockbuster merger with Skydance.

The fear within some media companies is that Kimmel’s suspension will lead to a more emboldened posture from Trump’s FCC as it seeks to crack down on content that is critical of the administration.

“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television,” Trump wrote in one Truth Social post this summer. “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”