Jimmy Kimmel thought his late-night ABC show was ruined during last month's storm over his comments following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“I told my wife, 'That's it. It's over,” Kimmel recalled Wednesday night at the Bloomberg Screentime media conference in Hollywood in a lengthy interview three weeks after the scandal.
The 57-year-old comedian has always felt his statements about Kirk's shooting were misinterpreted. But he admitted his show was in serious trouble on Sept. 17 when his bosses put him in the dock and the two owners of ABC affiliate stations, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, initially refused to air the program.
Kimmel provided fresh details about his relationship with Walt Disney Co. executives, his emotional break and the late-night television business after rival CBS announced it was The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Cancelednext spring.
Kimmel declined to say whether he would extend his long-term tenure at ABC when his contract expires in May, but he acknowledged an interest in producing other projects.
Kimmel's future was in doubt last month following his comments, and the political backlash has sparked violent protests that have shed light on First Amendment freedoms, the role of the Federal Communications Commission and the challenges Disney faces in finding a solution. new leader will replace CEO Bob Iger next year.
The controversy began with his Sept. 15 monologue, when Kimmel said Trump supporters were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as someone other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points on it.” Right-wing influencers howled; FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel's actions “the most disgusting behavior possible.”
The sentiment he was trying to convey “was intentionally and, I think, maliciously misconstrued,” Kimmel said.
He didn't see the initial fallout as a “big problem” but rather as a “distortion by some right-wing media networks,” he said.
Kimmel planned to clarify his remarks on September 17, but Disney executives feared the comedian was entrenched and would only worsen the tense situation. That night, about an hour before showtime, Disney hit pause and released a statement saying the show had been postponed “indefinitely.”
He was off the air for four days.
“Sometimes I can be aggressive. Sometimes I can be obnoxious,” he said.
A protester calls for the return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after the Walt Disney Co. suspended the ABC comedian in September over his comments about the murder of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
He realized the show's precarious position when Sinclair and Nexstar left it. He recalled an episode early in his career when he joked about Detroit's boisterous basketball fans, saying: “They're going to burn down the city of Detroit. if the Pistons win,” so he hoped the Lakers would win.
The comment angered the Motor City, prompting the local ABC affiliate to briefly suspend Kimmel's show.
The then-ABC executive told Kimmel that losing the Detroit market could be catastrophic. That pales in comparison to the threat of losing Nexstar and Sinclair, which own dozens of stations, including in major markets such as Seattle, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.
“The idea that I won't have… 40 branches [stations] … I thought, 'Well, that's it,'” Kimmel said.
However, he said he was “not going to agree” to the TV companies’ demands.
Sinclair, the right-wing network, said in a statement that it would not air Kimmel until he made a “direct apology to the Kirk family” and “made a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA,” the right-wing group founded by Kirk.
Both Sinclair and Nexstar resumed airing the show on September 26. ABC made no concessions.
Kimmel praised Disney entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden for her handling of the crisis, saying she was instrumental in helping him sort through his emotions.
“I ruined Dana's weekend. It was just nonstop phone calls all weekend,” Kimmel said, saying he had doubts about the situation. it would turn out so good “If only I hadn't talked to Dana as much as I did because it helped me think things through and helped me just understand where everyone was coming from.”
When asked who might be Disney's next CEO, Kimmel said it would be “stupid” to answer that question.
“But I really love Dana Walden and I think she did a great job,” Kimmel said.
Throughout the controversy, Walden and Iger have come under fire from critics who say the company is bowing to President Trump, who has made it clear he is not a fan of Kimmel. Disney leaders were accused of “corporate capitulation.”
“What happened over the last three weeks … was very unfair to my bosses at Disney,” Kimmel said. “This [was] madness, and I hope that we as Americans have drawn a really bold red line about what we will accept and what we will not accept.”
Kimmel returned on September 23 with an emotional monologue in defense of the First Amendment.
Ratings soared.
Controversy—and the upcoming CBS Colbert's cancellation — brought renewed attention to the cultural influence of late-night hosts, despite falling industry ratings.
Millions of viewers now watch monologues and other late-night jokes the next day on YouTube, meaning the networks producing the shows have lost valuable revenue because Google controls most of that advertising.
Networks acknowledge that late-night blocking is a challenge, but Kimmel said shows like this still matter.
He ridiculed reports citing unnamed sources suggesting Colbert's show will lose $40 million this year.
“If [CBS] lost $40 million, they would have canceled it by now,” Kimmel said. “I know what the budgets of these shows are,” referring to ABC, CBS and NBC shows.
“If we lose that much money, none of us will participate,” he said. “That’s kind of all you need to know.”
