Jimmy Kimmel appeared on fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” on Tuesday night to discuss exactly what happened when his own show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” was put on a forced hiatus.
Kimmel’s late-night show is back after a few days off the air. After Charlie Kirk’s passing, Kimmel made a comment on his show about the response to the tragedy. Specifically, he said:
âWe 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.â
Two ABC affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair, decided they would not air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for an undetermined amount of time due to the comments. ABC decided to pull Kimmel’s show completely, putting the host and his staff out of work. “Family Feud” aired during the time slot instead.
Less than a week later, Kimmel returned to the airwaves. However, despite ABC’s decision to bring Kimmel back, Nexstar and Sinclair continued to leave the show off their stations. This meant almost a quarter of the United States audience could not watch Kimmel’s emotional return on TV, although the monologue was available via YouTube and Disney+.
Eventually, Nexstar and Sinclair lifted their ban, although Sinclair said their “proposed measures to strengthen accountability … have not yet [been] adopted” by Disney, ABC, or Kimmel.
Jimmy Kimmel & Stephen Colbert Went Through a Similar Experience
Kimmel and Colbert have more in common than simply being late-night hosts at the 11:35 p.m. time slot. Kimmel’s hiatus, though forced, was temporary. Colbert’s show has been canceled for good.
During Tuesday’s interview, Colbert asked Kimmel if he appreciates his show more since everything happened, as Colbert feels that way now that he knows he won’t have a show anymore come 2026. Kimmel answered in the affirmative, then joked that his time off-the-air made it clear to him that his TV show is the only way he can get people to listen to him. âNo one at home listens to anything I say,” Kimmel joked.
What Else Jimmy Kimmel Said in This Important Interview
Kimmel told Colbert and his audience the full story of finding out he was being taken off the airwaves. On September 17, 2025, Kimmel got a phone call from ABC. This was particularly strange, Kimmel said, because âthey didnât even know I was doing a show.â
He then took the phone call in the only private place he could find: the bathroom. Taping was set to begin in 90 minutes, and the live audience was already in their seats. Unfortunately, there would be no show that day, nor for the rest of the week.
Colbert then asked who reached out to Kimmel once the news broke, because the New York-based host received many text messages when his show was canceled. Colbert even got a text from his high school girlfriend, although Kimmel couldn’t say the same. “I didnât have a girlfriend in high school, so I didnât hear from her,â he joked.
Both Colbert and Kimmel received messages from James Taylor, which caused them to question if the messages were truly from the heart, or if Taylor had copy-pasted the text. They asked to see their phones to compare, but had to move on with the interview before the phones could be located.
Later in the interview, Colbert asked if Kimmel was hiring, as he’ll be available come June 2026. Colbert comically suggested he could be Guillermo Rodriguez’s sidekick. Later, Guillermo made an appearance on stage, and the three late-night icons took shots.
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