{"id":339033,"date":"2025-12-09T13:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T13:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/339033\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T13:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T13:43:12","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-signs-one-year-contract-extension-with-abc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/339033\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel signs one-year contract extension with ABC"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump won\u2019t be getting his wish.<\/a> ABC said Monday it has signed late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> to a one-year contract extension.<\/p>\n

Kimmel\u2019s previous, multiyear contract had been set to expire next May, so the extension will keep him on the air until at least May 2027.<\/p>\n

Kimmel\u2019s future looked questionable in September, when ABC suspended \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d<\/a> for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Following a public outcry, ABC lifted the suspension, and Kimmel returned to the air<\/a> with much stronger ratings than he had before.<\/p>\n

He continued his relentless joking at the president\u2019s expense, leading Trump to urge the network to \u201cget the bum off the air\u201d in a social media post last month. The post followed Kimmel\u2019s nearly 10-minute monologue on Trump and the Jeffrey Epstein files.<\/p>\n

Kimmel was even on Trump\u2019s mind Sunday as the president hosted the Kennedy Center Honors<\/a> in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched some of the people that host,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI\u2019ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people, if I can\u2019t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don\u2019t think I should be president.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

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Kimmel has hosted the Oscars four times, but he\u2019s never hosted the Kennedy Center show.<\/p>\n

Just last week, Kimmel was needling Trump on the president\u2019s approval ratings. \u201cThere are gas stations on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Trump right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kimmel will be staying longer than late-night colleague Stephen Colbert at CBS. The network announced this summer it was ending Colbert\u2019s show next May for economic reasons, even though it is the top-rated network show in late-night television.<\/p>\n

ABC has aired Kimmel\u2019s late-night show since 2003, during a time of upheaval in the industry. Like much of broadcast television, late-night ratings are down. Viewers increasingly turn to watching monologues online the day after they appear.<\/p>\n

Most of Kimmel\u2019s recent renewals have been multiyear extensions. There was no immediate word on whose choice it was to extend his current contract by one year.<\/p>\n

Bill Carter, author of \u201cThe Late Shift\u201d and veteran chronicler of late-night TV, cautioned against reading too much into the length of the extension. Kimmel, at age 58, knows he\u2019s getting close to the end of the line, Carter said, but when he leaves, he doesn\u2019t want it to appear under pressure from Trump or anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to make sure that it\u2019s on his terms,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

Kimmel has become one of the leading voices resisting Trump. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for him and for ABC that they are standing up for him,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

Following Kirk\u2019s killing, Kimmel was criticized for saying that \u201cthe MAGA gang\u201d was \u201cdesperately 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.\u201d The Nexstar and Sinclair television ownership groups said it would take Kimmel off the air, leading to ABC\u2019s suspension. <\/p>\n

When he returned to the air, Kimmel did not apologize for his remarks, but he said he did not intend to blame any specific group for Kirk\u2019s assassination. He said \u201cit was never my intention to make the light of the murder of a young man.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http:\/\/x.com\/dbauder<\/a> and https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dbauder.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n