Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel called President Donald Trump a “son of a b—-” on Tuesday as he discussed Disney suspending his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

“You started as a radio disc jockey, as you said,” host Stephen Colbert said to Kimmel. “When you were spinning platters and making with the banter, did you ever think the president of the United States would be celebrating your unemployment?”

Kimmel’s suspension was lifted by Disney last Tuesday after the host was briefly taken off the air due to remarks he made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin. Trump reveled in the announcement at the time, saying Kimmel had no talent, and it was “great news for America.”

As the audience booed, Kimmel said, referring to Trump, “I mean, that son of a b—-, you know?”

“Mister son of a b—-,” Colbert added.

“No, I never thought we would have a president like this, and I hope we don’t have another president like this again,” Kimmel added, as the crowd cheered.

Kimmel accused Trump of celebrating “hundreds of Americans” losing their jobs.

“I never even imagined there would ever be a situation in which the president of our country was celebrating hundreds of Americans losing their jobs. Somebody who took pleasure in that. That, to me, is the absolute opposite of what a leader of this country is supposed to be,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel also told Colbert he didn’t think his show would ever return, a concern many industry experts reportedly shared.

“I thought, that’s it. It’s over. It is over. I’m never coming back on the air. That’s really what I thought,” he said.

Kimmel also talked about how he found out about the suspension.

“It was about 3:00. We tape our show at 4:30. I’m in my office typing away as I usually do. I get a phone call. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual,” Kimmel told Colbert. “I’m on the phone with ABC executives, and they say ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down. We are concerned about what you’re going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.'”

As the crowd booed, Kimmel said he reacted the same way.

“I’m sure all three of Jimmy Kimmel’s viewers appreciate his sad excuse for ‘comedy,'” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.

Jimmy Kimmel sheds 64% of audience after short-lived ratings spike following suspension

ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ was briefly benched after liberal host sparked outrage

Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings spike was short-lived.

Disney briefly suspended ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after the host’s remarks about the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk sparked widespread backlash. After an about-face from Disney, the liberal comedian returned last Tuesday, and Kimmel’s emotional return drew a massive audience, but viewers haven’t stuck around.

On Thursday, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” averaged 2.3 million total viewers — a staggering 64% drop from the 6.5 million who tuned in for Tuesday’s much-hyped return.

Kimmel shed even more viewers in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, with Thursday’s episode hemorrhaging 73% of viewers from the critical category.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” pulled in 1.7 million viewers among the key demo for Tuesday’s return but plummeted to 465,000 only 48 hours later.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” also lost significant viewers in the younger demographic of adults aged 18-49, managing 1.2 million on Tuesday but quickly losing 73% to settle for only 334,000 on Thursday.

ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to the air Sept. 23, 2025.  (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)

The saga began earlier this month when Kimmel falsely suggested that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect in the Kirk assassination, was part of the “MAGA gang,” despite reports he had a left-wing ideology, which was reaffirmed in the indictment filed the next day.

“We 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,” Kimmel told his audience.

The false suggestion that Robinson was a MAGA supporter sparked outrage and scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Disney decided to suspend the show after Nexstar and Sinclair pulled airings of Kimmel from their stations, and Kimmel reportedly had told executives last week he would not apologize for his comments.

Disney’s suspension lasted less than a week. Kimmel returned Tuesday with a passionate monologue but stopped short of a full apology.

 

Charlie Kirk speaks before he was assassinated during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

Nexstar and Sinclair continued to preempt the program until allowing its return on Friday.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has also seen its ratings drop significantly over the past decade, as the program averaged 2.4 million viewers in 2015 and has been trending downward ever since. Kimmel’s program averaged 2.2 million in 2016 and 2017, fell to 2.1 million in 2018, dropped to 1.9 million in 2019 and sunk to 1.8 million in 2020. By 2021, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” managed only 1.5 million nightly viewers. Kimmel’s 2025 average viewership of 1.6 million was down 37% compared to 2015 totals when Disney decided to temporarily sideline him.

Meanwhile, Kirk’s supporters panned Kimmel’s non-apology, saying the ABC host failed to take responsibility for the falsehood.

“Kimmel is an unrepentant liar who tried to blame Charlie’s assassination on the part of the country that just spent the last 2 weeks praying and holding vigils,” Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet reacted.

 

 

Nexstar evaluating status of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ for ABC stations after late night show’s return

• Nexstar Media Group said Wednesday it is continuing to evaluate whether it will bring “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back to its ABC-affiliate stations, a day after the late night show returned to the Disney-owned network.
• Nexstar’s broadcast TV stations affiliated with ABC did not air Kimmel’s return to late night on Tuesday.
• Two of the largest broadcast station owners, Nexstar and Sinclair together own about 70 ABC affiliate stations in the U.S.

Nexstar Media Group said Wednesday it is continuing to evaluate whether it will bring “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back to its ABC-affiliate stations, a day after the late night show returned to the Disney-owned network.

Nexstar’s broadcast TV stations affiliated with ABC did not air Kimmel’s return to late night on Tuesday.

“Nexstar is continuing to evaluate the status of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our ABC-affiliated local television stations, and the show will be preempted while we do so,” Nexstar said in a statement. “We are engaged in productive discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.”

Nexstar, along with fellow station owner Sinclair, said it would preempt Kimmel when Disney returned the show to broadcast on Tuesday, leaving customers in many markets unable to watch the show on their local station.

A Sinclair representative on Wednesday referred CNBC to its statement on Monday, which said the company’s stations would be preempting the show and that “discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

Two of the largest broadcast station owners, Nexstar and Sinclair together own about 70 ABC affiliate stations in the U.S.

The comedian addressed the situation during his monologue Tuesday.

“We are still on the air in most of the country, except, ironically, from Washington, D.C., where we have been preempted,” Kimmel said after a commercial break. “After almost 23 years on the air, we’re suddenly not being broadcast in 20% of the country, which is not a situation we relish.”

Last week, ABC parent Disney said it would temporarily suspend production on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following comments by host Kimmel that linked the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

Kimmel’s suspension came shortly after an announcement from Nexstar that it would not air the program — as well as comments from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr suggesting ABC affiliate stations could be at risk of losing broadcast licenses over Kimmel’s comments.

“It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said in Tuesday’s emotional monologue. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

 

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