President Donald Trump slammed ABC‘s decision to bring Jimmy Kimmel back to late-night TV — and said, “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this.”
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there.”
Trump continued, “Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s 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! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
After ABC pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air Sept. 17 over comments the host made about Charlie Kirk’s killer, Disney on Monday said the show would be coming back to regular timeslot on Tuesday. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” Disney, ABC’s parent company, said in a statement. Sinclair and Nexstar Media, two large station groups that had previously said they were preempting Kimmel over his Kirk comments, said Tuesday they will not air “Jimmy Kimmy Live!” for the time being.
Trump’s comments last week about Kimmel made it seem as if the president believed the show had been canceled and that Kimmel had been “fired.”
“Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 17. “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT”
At a press conference in the U.K. last Thursday, Trump said Kimmel was “fired because of bad ratings more than anyone else.” He also said, “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. So, you know, you can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.” Trump added that Kimmel “said a horrible thing about a gentlemen called Charlie Kirk.” (Kimmel had not said anything on the show about Kirk himself.)
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ABC’s suspension of Kimmel’s show last week came after two big station groups — Nexstar and Sinclair — said they were dropping “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over Kimmel’s remarks on the Sept. 15 show that “the MAGA gang” was trying to portray Charlie Kirk’s killer “anything other than one of them.” Earlier that same day, FCC chair Brendan Carr said on a podcast that unless ABC “took action” with respect to Kimmel, there would be “additional work for the FCC ahead,” which he suggested would be to investigate complaints of “news distortion” against the network. Carr warned, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” The FCC chairman said Kimmel’s commentary was “some of the sickest conduct possible.”
Disney’s full statement on Monday (Sept. 22) read, “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
From Variety US