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Jimmy Kimmel’s future as the “face” of ABC is in limbo after Disney benched the late-night host indefinitely following controversial remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Disney on Wednesday sidelined Kimmel “indefinitely” amid mounting pressure from ABC affiliate stations across the country, as well as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Kimmel had planned to address the growing controversy in his monologue that evening, according to The Wall Street Journal. But Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden, a top Kimmel ally, believed his planned remarks “could make the situation worse.”
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Walden and Disney CEO Bob Iger made the decision to bench Kimmel, sources told Fox News Digital. The top honchos were clearly looking to protect the Disney brand, but Kimmel is more than just a late-night host for ABC.
CBS announced earlier this year that Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” would be canceled next year. The decision shocked many industry insiders, who rushed to blame the Trump administration and assumed it was some sort of quid pro quo to satisfy the FCC ahead of a long-planned merger between Paramount and Skydance. But then it was reported that Colbert’s program was hemorrhaging cash and observers started to notice the “Late Show” didn’t perform particularly well on non-linear platforms.
“It’s not a Colbert situation; we have been told that Kimmel is profitable. He does a lot more for the network than just hosting this show,” Puck’s Matthew Belloni pointed out Thursday on his “The Town” podcast.
“He is like the face of the brand,” Belloni added.
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Indeed, Kimmel has hosted the American Music Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Academy Awards. He also plays a key role in the Disney’s annual Upfront presentation to advertisers and hosts ABC’s reboot of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has shed viewers in recent years, but the program’s YouTube channel has nearly 21 million subscribers, compared to 10.2 million for the “Late Show.” A recent Kimmel monologue piled up over 4.1 million views on the platform, and the “face” of ABC also has millions of followers across social media.
It’s unclear what happens next for Kimmel. Disney did not immediately respond to a series of questions, including if the next scheduled “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” will air and whether “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” turns a profit.
Kimmel suggested in 2024 that he could wrap up his late-night program at the end of his current contract, which was set to expire in 2026.
“I think this is my final contract. I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough,” Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times.
But earlier this month, Kimmel was evasive when asked how long he planned to keep the gig.
“I’m not prepared to answer that question, it’s something I think about a lot, things have changed a lot over the last few years, the last nine years, each day is a new adventure and I kind of take them as they come,” Kimmel told Deadline.
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The Ringer founder and CEO Bill Simmons, who worked on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” when the program launched in 2001, maintains a close relationship with his former boss. He echoed the notion that it feels “different than the Colbert thing,” but feels ABC could still keep Kimmel around.
“Colbert, I don’t feel like was the face of CBS, whereas Jimmy was. His show has been on for over two decades,” Simmons said Thursday on his podcast.
“When I was growing up, and we had ‘Battle of the Network Stars’ and things like that in the 70s, each network had all these different stars you would associate with the network. And, you know, once you get to 2025, as they’re making less and less TV shows, there’s more reality shows, more sports, all these things that kind of make a network feel less vibrant,” Simmons continued. “Jimmy was one of the few people that you would have associated with ABC.”
Simmons said it seemed genuine that CBS “wanted to get out of late night,” but he doesn’t believe that is the case with Disney.
“When you look at the Jimmy situation, I just think he means more to ABC,” Simmons said.
“There was such a groundswell against Disney this week, I went from thinking there was no chance this show is gonna come back… but maybe this flips. Maybe what Disney is realizing is that, at some point, you’ve got to stand for something,” Simmons observed. “Once you start losing your faces, you just don’t have a soul anymore.”
Entertainment outlets reported that around 200 protesters demonstrated outside of Disney’s location in Burbank, Calif., to demand that Disney put “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back on the air. Protesters also gathered outside Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Thursday, where they were recorded chanting, “ABC bent the knee! No to the FCC!”
Simmons feels ABC could need Kimmel more than his friend needs the network.
“You can create your own platform now, you don’t need these big places,” he said. “You can get your content out in whatever way you want.”
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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