Jimmy Kimmel Live! being “pre-empted indefinitely” starting Wednesday was welcome news to Donald Trump, who for years complained about the late night host.
The programming decision by ABC, which was spurred by Kimmel’s comments about the right-wing response to the killing of Charlie Kirk, was celebrated by Trump.
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,” Trump posted on Truth Social from the U.K., where it was 1:04 a.m.
He went on to take aim for two more late-night hosts. “That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
The news came two months after the president gloated about fellow late night host Stephen Colbert’s cancellation and said Kimmel would be “next.”
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,” Trump posted to Truth Social in July. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”
A few days later, he took some pre-credit on the same platform, while adding NBC’s Jimmy Fallon into the mix.
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” he wrote. “These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
Trump repeatedly took issue with Kimmel’s awards show hosting performances. / David Swanson / REUTERS
The instances of Trump attacking Kimmel—who has frequently returned fire—are plenty.
On the campaign trail last September, Trump called Kimmel a “dope” and “one of the dumbest human beings ever.”
That March, he responded to Kimmel’s jab at the Oscars by labeling him a “lousy host.” The previous month, he called him a “loser.” And in January 2023, Trump thought Kimmel was an “untalented fool.”
The grievances stretch back into Trump’s first term. In early 2018, Rolling Stone reported, Trump got his staff to call a top Disney executive to see if anything could be done about Kimmel’s comedy. Nothing came from it. (Trump aimed for the same thing with Saturday Night Live, but to no avail.)
Before being elected, Trump appeared on Kimmel’s show a few times, but each was cordial toward the other, even when Kimmel poked fun at Trump’s rhetoric with a satirical children’s book “authored” by Trump called Winners Aren’t Losers.
“Winners aren’t losers, they’re winners — like me!” Kimmel read out loud. “A loser’s a loser. Which one will you be?”
But after nearly a decade of Trump either being president or running for reelection, the two are poles apart, and Trump now has more tools than ever at his disposal for seeking revenge for years of mockery.
The reason for ABC pulling the plug on Kimmel related to part of his monologue on Monday.
“We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr responded by insisting that Kimmel deliberately spread misinformation, and threatened to take away ABC’s broadcasting license.
Hours later, Kimmel’s show was off the air.
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