{"id":178030,"date":"2025-09-24T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/178030\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T06:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T06:54:08","slug":"abc-host-met-the-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/178030\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC Host Met The Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFrom Oscar-envelope SNAFUs, to L.A. wildfire evacuations, to real-time tweet attacks from Donald Trump<\/a> and advocating for children\u2019s healthcare, Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> has more than met the moment many times over the years.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, with the ABC late-night host\u2019s return tonight after a weeklong benching<\/a> \u2026 Well, as longtime nemesis Trump said on a May 2016 visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live<\/a>!: \u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith renewed threats against the Disney-owned network from Trump tonight <\/a>after the show was taped, and affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar still not showing Live!<\/a> even though ABC<\/a> brought it back, an initially cosplaying Kimmel (Google it) more than met the moment Tuesday \u2014 like we kinda knew he would.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Then<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThen presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump on \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u2019 in May 2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRandy Holmes\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tGreeted by a standing ovation and chants of \u201cJimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!\u201d from his studio audience, and revealing news of a German job offer, Kimmel started off <\/a>with a nod to the great Jack Parr\u2019s return to the air after a corporate run-in of his own in 1960. Warming up, he thanked his fellow late-night hosts past and present, his fans and fans of free speech <\/a>like \u201ceven my old pal Ted Cruz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYet, for all the anger and backlash around Kimmel\u2019s suspension, the longtime host\u2019s deft decision Tuesday was to speak to the conservative activist\u2019s grieving family and the big picture in America right now.<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, and never forgetting Live! is late-night comedy, Kimmel turned the spotlight of free speech on Trump and his real-life FCC<\/a> chair Brendon Carr by showing their own contradictory words and actions vis a vis free speech. In addition, Kimmel got some hilarious help and cultural Kevlar from Robert De Niro<\/a> played the new sycophantic head of the FCC to seal the deal \u2014 cause that\u2019s how the pros do it.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Niro went straight into regulatory character to hit all the right notes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s just me Jimmy the chairman of the FCC, gently suggesting that you gently shut the f*ck up,\u201d De Niro declared in the pre-taped bit. \u201cBut you can\u2019t say that, that\u2019s a violation of free speech,\u201d Kimmel protested. \u201cOh, yeah, about that speech? It ain\u2019t free no more,\u201d De Niro replied, making it perfectly clear what was on the table.<\/p>\n

\n\tWas it the greatest late-night show ever? No. Was it the greatest TV comeback ever? No. Was Kimmel weak for not coming out screaming that he was leaving ABC for the greener and likely less restrained pastures of Netflix or YouTube? Not at all. Kimmel has been doing late-night a long long time, decades in fact, and he knows that the way you win is playing the long long game \u2014 which is what we saw, as we have from him numerous times before.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you were expecting an apology, this wasn\u2019t the comeback where you were going to get it. Kimmel\u2019s knee did not hit the studio floor Tuesday. Also, if you couldn\u2019t watch because you lived in one of those markets ruled by Sinclair and Nexstar, Kimmel had some advice: streaming.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a sweet extra to the whole thing, Trump\u2019s outdated shivs of Kimmel having low ratings are going to look even more tin-eared in the next day or so when the numbers come in. Even with nearly 20% of ABC\u2019s linear reach off limits thanks to Nexstar and Sinclair\u2019s continued preemptions, they should be big.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) Guillermo Rodriguez and Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRandy Holmes\/Disney via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tOne-liners, a hug from Guillermo and defending the First Amendment aside, there was, as one would expect after a week in which a late-night host going dark put where America is now in stark perspective, some tears Tuesday. In that vein, Kimmel\u2019s voice broke a few times, especially when speaking of widow and now Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk for the undeniable grace and forgiveness she displayed this past weekend <\/a>towards the man who killed her husband. Kimmel\u2019s own grace under pressure was on display with his dedication to his craft and POV.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was also a talk show to put on and the Live! team did just that tonight too. <\/p>\n

\n\tGlen Powell<\/a> was on to talk to Kimmel at the desk and charmingly promote his new September 30-debuting Hulu football series Chad Powers. Hot off pulling the plug on performances at the September 21 premiere of ABC News and Hulu\u2019s Lilith Fair documentary<\/a> in solidarity with Kimmel and his show,\u00a0Sarah McLachlan<\/a>\u00a0provided the tunes tonight with something from her new album Broken Better. There was anticipation that the often outspoken songwriter would say something, as she did just a few days ago at they\u00a0Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery screening, but, like the pro she is, McLachlan stuck to the task at hand and saw the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSarah McLachlan on \u2018Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRandy Holmes\/Disney via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tThat ethos, after the necessary\u00a0points were made, was at the heart of tonight\u2019s Live! to everyone credit \u2014 and probably to ABC, Disney<\/a>, Iger and Walden\u2019s relief. That became all the more stark after Trump went online Tuesday after the slightly late-running show was taped and before it aired on the East Coast, huffing and puffing as usual.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think we\u2019re going to test ABC out on this,\u201d Trump wrote, handing Iger and Walden a redemption in so many ways. \u201cLet\u2019s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think we\u2019ll see you tomorrow, good night,\u201d the clearly winning Kimmel said at the end of tonight\u2019s show. To that, Ethan Hawke and Abbott Elementary\u2019s Lisa Ann Walters are the scheduled Live! tomorrow, with Yungblud as the musical guest \u2014 cause that\u2019s how the pros do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Oscar-envelope SNAFUs, to L.A. wildfire evacuations, to real-time tweet attacks from Donald Trump and advocating for children\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1855,4687,46632,49204,105798,3716,12,88,3092,35569,17114,11575,462,47194],"class_list":{"0":"post-178030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-abc","9":"tag-analysis","10":"tag-bob-iger","11":"tag-charlie-kirk","12":"tag-dana-walden","13":"tag-disney","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-fcc","17":"tag-glen-powell","18":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","19":"tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","20":"tag-maga","21":"tag-robert-de-niro"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}