{"id":211012,"date":"2025-10-09T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T06:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/211012\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T06:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T06:00:08","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-thought-his-show-might-not-return-after-stations-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/211012\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel Thought His Show Might Not Return After Stations Boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn the hours after ABC benched \u201cJimmy Kimmel<\/a> Live!\u201d and both the Sinclair and Nexstar affiliate groups said they would put the show on indefinite hiatus, Kimmel thought the show might be over for good. He figured that might be a real possibility after Sinclair shared a list of demands (including an apology) from Kimmel before it would reinstate his show.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTthe idea that I would not have 40 affiliates, I was like, \u2018Well, that\u2019s it.\u2019 Because there seemed to be a list of demands presented to me and I was not going to go along with any of them,\u201d he told the audience Wednesday at the Bloomberg Screentime event in Hollywood. \u201cSo it\u2019s was like, \u2018well, I guess we\u2019re done.\u2019 I said to my wife, \u2018that\u2019s it. It\u2019s over.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, Kimmel was back on air \u2014 and he believes his return to TV after a brief suspension \u201cprobably went about as good as it could go.\u201d Most importantly, he said he wanted the opportunity to explain what he was trying to say after \u201cIt was intentionally, and I think, maliciously, mischaracterized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel\u2019s Bloomberg Screentime appearance marked the first time he answered questions from a reporter about last month\u2019s kerfuffle, when he was pulled off the air for several days by ABC and pre-empted by Nexstar and Sinclair ABC affils.<\/p>\n

\n\tDescribing how he prepared for that return episode on Sept 23, \u201cit was something really that had to come from inside me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt had to be truthful, and I had to lay it all out there and just be honest about what I was feeling and what I\u2019d experienced. And I think I did. I knew that it wasn\u2019t going to be perfect. There were always going to be people that didn\u2019t like it and didn\u2019t accept it, but the important thing to me was that I was able to explain what I was saying, what I was trying to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about his talks with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden in the immediate aftermath, KImmel characterized them as \u201creally good conversations. These are people that I\u2019ve known for a long time, and who I like very much. We all wanted this to work out best. And I will tell you, first of all, I ruined Dana\u2019s weekend. It was just non stop phone calls all weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel gave Walden credit for his return: \u201cI don\u2019t think what I don\u2019t think the result, which I think turned out to be very positive, would have been as positive if I hadn\u2019t talked to Dana as much as I did. Because it helped me think everything through, and it helped me just kind of understand where everyone was coming from. I can sometimes be reactionary. I can sometimes be aggressive. And I could sometimes be unpleasant. I think really having those days to think about it was helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLater, he was asked if he had a pick for Iger\u2019s successor as Disney CEO. Kimmel didn\u2019t want to play favorites, but given his close relationship with Walden and how she helped him navigate the events of the past month, he noted \u201cI happen to love Dana Walden very much, and I think she\u2019s done a great job. And I think what has happened over the last like three weeks, I think was very unfair to my bosses at Disney. I don\u2019t think anyone should ever be put in a position like this, it is insane, and I hope that we drew a really, really bold red line as Americans about what we will and will not accept.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel was benched for three nights by ABC after Brendan Carr<\/a>, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened to punish the network over comments the host made in a monologue. Carr lashed out at Disney after Kimmel noted that the right wing was trying to \u201ccharacterize the kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.\u201d In particular, on a right-wing\u00a0podcast prior to Kimmel\u2019s benching, Carr threatened to investigate ABC affiliates unless they took Kimmel off the air, implying the FCC could pull their broadcast licenses.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked when he realized that there might be a problem, \u201cI didn\u2019t think there was a big problem\u201d at first, Kimmel said. \u201cI saw it as distortion on the part of some of the right wing media networks, and I aimed to correct it. I have problems. all the time and it\u2019s kind of funny, because sometimes you think, \u2018oh this is not a problem\u2019 and then it turns into a big problem, and then sometimes it goes the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar and Sinclair yanked Kimmel off their ABC stations after Carr\u2019s comments, forcing Disney to put \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live<\/a>!\u201d on pause. But that turned the controversy into a lightning rod for free speech, giving Kimmel an opening to come roaring back on Sept. 23, averaging 6.3 million viewers \u2014 its most-watched regularly scheduled episode ever, despite not airing in 23% of U.S. households. By the end of the week Nexstar and Sinclair had restored the show as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore recently, Carr has agreed to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee to testify about the events that led to ABC\u2019s temporary suspension of Kimmel.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier at the Bloomberg event, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also celebrated the quick return of Kimmel. \u201cPeople got activated and demanded that Jimmy Kimmel come back on the air. And I think that that was a great victory,\u201d she said. \u201cSo sometimes, when you\u2019re struggling and you\u2019re going through all these changes, it\u2019s important to realize Jimmy Kimmel will be back on the back on the air was a victory for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond discussion of the recent news, Kimmel was also asked to elaborate on his previous comments to Variety that he didn\u2019t think CBS was truthful when it said \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert\u201d was canceled because it was losing $40 million a year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI know what the budgets for these shows are,\u201d Kimmel said, pegging them at around $100 million to $120 million a year. \u201cI know what I make. I know what Stephen makes. I know what the ad sales people make. I know that there are values that nobody bothers to consider, like the affiliate fees that have to account for a portion of that\u2026 I\u2019s not $40 million. Is the show losing money? That I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t imagine it\u2019s losing a lot of money if it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about his latest feeling on when \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!<\/a>\u201d might end, he repeated his assertion that \u201cI often answer that question, and then I do the opposite of what I said. I previously said, \u2018this is going to be like my last one,\u2019 the last three contracts. So I\u2019ve learned not to say anything anymore, because it upsets my staff. It\u2019s best that when I make a decision, I will make that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for his conversation on air this week with comedian Aziz Ansari about Ansari\u2019s decision to perform at the controversial Riyadh comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, Kimmel said the two of them agreed to talk about the hot button subject beforehand.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have gone, but I wanted to hear his reasons, and I thought he had some compelling reasons,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cNothing\u2019s black and white. It\u2019s not something I would do. But I do understand the idea that if we close ourselves off to the world, or we isolate somebody, that maybe it\u2019s not good. I don\u2019t know that my reasoning is the correct reasoning. Also, we see it happening in this country too. I mean, we travel abroad. Many of us don\u2019t want to be held accountable for what our president does and says. As an American going someplace, I\u2019m fortunate enough to be well known, and people know where I\u2019m coming from. But I think it would be a different situation if people didn\u2019t know who I was. I think probably the first thing I\u2019d say as I got into every cab is, \u2018I didn\u2019t vote for him, just FYI!\u2019 I do think that kind of makes me understand his position better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the hours after ABC benched \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d and both the Sinclair and Nexstar affiliate groups said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[17105,88,17114,11575,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-211012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-brendan-carr","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","11":"tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211012","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=211012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}