‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ is reportedly ending, ABC pushes back
ABC will not extend comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s contract beyond 2027, Page Six reported on Tuesday. Citing a source familiar with the situation, the tabloid reported the ongoing 24th season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will be the last. Kimmel has been in the late-night chair on ABC since 2003. “His contract is not getting extended,” the…
ABC will not extend comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s contract beyond 2027, Page Six reported on Tuesday.
Citing a source familiar with the situation, the tabloid reported the ongoing 24th season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will be the last. Kimmel has been in the late-night chair on ABC since 2003.
“His contract is not getting extended,” the source told Page Six, which noted Kimmel signs one-year contracts with the Disney-owned network.
A spokesperson for ABC Entertainment pushed back on Page Six’s reporting, telling The Hill, “This information is inaccurate — any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative.”
Kimmel, a longtime critic of President Trump, has traded jabs with the president throughout his second term.
In March, Trump called on ABC to fire Kimmel after the late-night comedian said first lady Melania Trump had the “glow” of an expectant widow” during a parody State of the Union address. Kimmel argued the joke had to do with Trump’s age and was not a call to assassinate him.
Disney also briefly pulled Kimmel off the air last fall, after he mocked Trump’s response to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The comedian said the president was mourning Kirk as if he were a “goldfish.”
ABC’s parent company halted production of Kimmel’s show after Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group pulled broadcasts of it from their ABC affiliates. Nexstar Media Group is the parent company of The Hill.
Disney’s decision also came after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr threatened action against ABC.
Carr has continued to target ABC, with the FCC launching an early review of the network’s broadcast licenses. Lawyers for the company accused the commission in a July court filing of attempting to censor the network .
Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert’s 11-year run as host of CBS’s “The Late Show” came to an end in May after his own dust-ups with President Trump and as the business of late-night TV becomes more murky.
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