Humorist said that he knew, on time and in a bathroom, that his program was going to be suspended by ABC
When ABC executives told Jimmy Kimmel last month that his show was going to be removed, the audience was already sitting, a guest chef had begun to cook, the musical guest had already warmed, and Kimmel was in the bathroom.
“It was around 3:00 pm; We recorded the program at 4:30 pm,” Kimmel told Stephen Colbert in an episode of “The Late Show” on Tuesday. “I was in my office, writing as I do us usually. I get a call. It was ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual: from what I knew, they didn’t even know I was doing a program before that.”
Kimmel said he had five arguments in his office at that time, and the only private site where he could answer the so -called bathroom.
So I went to the bathroom and told the phone with the executives of ABC. And they tell me: ‘We want to lower the temperature. We are worried about what you will say tonight and decide that the best r.’ ”
The audience protested and Kimmel joked: “That’s exactly what I did: I started to protest.”
“I said to them, ‘I think this is not a good idea,’ and they answered, ‘Well, we think it is.’ Then there was a vote, and I lost. ”
Kimmel said he called some of the program’s executive producers to his office to give them the news and went white.
“I thought: Okay, it’s over. It’s done. I’m over. I really thought it was never in the air again.”
Kimmel said the program had to send the audience sitting home. The meatballs and polenta prepared by chef Christian Petroni before the recording went to the trash. However, future musical guest Howard Jones has recorded a song for a future episode “Things Can Only Get Better”, which Kimmel acknowledged to be ironic.
ABC suspended Kimmel’s program in mid -September for a few days after a controversial monologue mentioning Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer – and the right reaction to Kirk’s murder. Two days later, FCC President Brendan Carr in a conservative podcast threatened to remove transmission licenses from ABC’s affiliate channels as retaliation. Then the Nexstar Station Group – which issues “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” In about two dozen markets – he announced that he would no longer broadcast the program. Another affiliate, Sinclair, followed the example. Hours later, Kimmel received the call from ABC executives in the bathroom.
Kimmel aired the following Tuesday with one – and.
Colbert could not say the sentence
Colbert, who also appeared as a guest in the recording of Jimmy Kimmel Live in Brooklyn on Tuesday, said he understood what Kimmel felt. The CBS host revealed that executives while he was on vacation. His agent, James Dixon, who also represents Kimmel, waited for his return to tell him.
Recalling the desire to tell his audience immediately the news – although the Late Show is scheduled to last until the spring of 2026 – Colbert told Kimmel that at the end of the next program, he asked the public to stay a little more for another segment. But he had difficulty saying the lines and was wrong – twice.
“I was so nervous about wanting to do that well, because there was nothing in the teleponto. I was talking about improvisation,” said Colbert. “They started to say, ‘Strength, Stephen, you get it,’ because I was always failing in the phrase that explained what was going on. And then I reached the phrase that I actually said what was happening – and no one laughed.”
Although Paramount, owner of the CBS, said the cancellation of The Late Show was a purely commercial decision, many Critics of the Media – and Kimmel himself – questioned this justification, and some claim that it was a political decision to please the Trump administration, which needed to approve Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
Both Colbert and Kimmel have been frequent and blunt critics of President Donald Trump and his administration. Trump publicly celebrated the cancellation of Colbert’s program, stating in a social media publication that Kimmel and Seth Meyers of the NBC would be “the next.” He celebrated again when Kimmel was taken down, but criticized – and threatened – ABC when I brought him back.
Seth Meyers also appeared on the Kimmel show on Tuesday, and Late Night’s three presenters posed for a photograph published on. Kimmel added the caption: “Hello, Donald!”
Kimmel joked with Colbert saying that Tuesday’s recording was “the FCC program doesn’t want you to see it.” He introduced Colbert as “the nocturnal talk host winning an Emmy who, thanks to the Trump administration, is now available for a limited time.”
Kimmel shifted by saying that he was “very honored to be with my failed and without the talent of night programs.” As for the reason for inviting Colbert to his program: “We thought it could be a fun way to irritate the president.”
