Late night host Jimmy Kimmel announced Wednesday that his interview with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico will not air on the program due to his concerns with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Kimmel said the interview would instead be aired “under unusual circumstances” on YouTube for fear of violating the “equal time” rule, which requires broadcast networks and radio stations to give equal airtime opportunities to all candidates in an election.
“You know, for a lot of years, for the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I’ve been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all, just like Letterman did, Leno did, Arsenio, etc. etc. I’ve interviewed a lot of political candidates. From Hillary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump,” Kimmel said on Wednesday. 
“I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015, and at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates. … But for some reason, and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed,” he added.
“Now that [Trump is] president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates [and] our local stations based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings, it would seem, [that] they don’t like,” Kimmel said. 
“Out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television. It will be posted on YouTube instead &#8230; and thank goodness we have that because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November.”
This is not the first time Talarico has caused drama on late night. Former “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert threw a hissy fit in February when the FCC made moves to enforce the equal time rule, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stephen-colbert-throws-hissy-fit-over-cbs-enforcing-equal-time-rule-nixing-dem-candidate-interview">reported</a>. 
“There’s long been an exception for this rule, an exception for news interviews and talk show interviews with politicians,” Colbert said at the time. “That’s crucial.”
Like Kimmel, Colbert conducted the interview and aired it on YouTube instead.
This clash between Kimmel and the FCC comes amid speculation that &#8220;Jimmy Kimmel Live!&#8221; may end next year. Page Six reported Tuesday that ABC does not plan to extend Kimmel’s contract after it expires in May 2027 and that the upcoming season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is expected to be the show’s last, citing sources familiar with the situation.
“His contract is not getting extended,” one source <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-may-be-running-out-of-late-nights">told the outlet</a>. ABC pushed back on the report, saying it has not made a decision about the show’s future.
“This information is inaccurate — any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative,” a network spokesman said.
Kimmel&#8217;s comments also come a year after he was punished for making <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unrepentant-liar-charlie-kirks-team-is-not-buying-jimmy-kimmels-crocodile-tears">false statements</a> about the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk. The late night host also made a crass joke about first lady Melania Trump looking like an “expectant widow” just days before a gunman attempted to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

JIMMY KIMMEL

Jimmy Kimmel Won’t Air Interview With Dem Candidate Over ‘Equal Time’ Fear

equal time rule

federal communications commission

james talarico

jimmy kimmel

politics

stephen colbert

Jimmy Kimmel’s 24-year run in late-night television may end next year, according to a report that ABC is flatly denying. 
<a href="https://pagesix.com/2026/09/08/entertainment/jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-set-to-end-after-next-season-after-24-years/">Page Six</a> reported Tuesday that ABC does not plan to extend Kimmel&#8217;s contract after it expires in May 2027 and that the upcoming season of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is expected to be the show’s last, citing sources familiar with the situation. 
“His contract is not getting extended,” one source told the outlet.
ABC pushed back on the report, saying it has not made a decision about the show&#8217;s future.
“This information is inaccurate — any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative,” a network spokesman told Page Six.
Kimmel, 58, signed a one-year extension with Disney in December 2025 after his previous contract was set to expire in May 2026. He has maintained an unusual arrangement with ABC, frequently signing year-to-year contracts rather than the multiyear agreements common among major television hosts, giving him more flexibility as speculation about his eventual retirement continues.
If the Page Six report is accurate, Kimmel’s final episode would air in May 2027, bringing a run that began in January 2003.
The report surfaced as Kimmel prepares to return to ABC on Tuesday night following his summer hiatus. The network has scheduled Andrew Garfield and Joey King to join him for his return. ABC’s schedule confirms the show will continue to air at 11:35 p.m. throughout the week.
Kimmel&#8217;s potential departure follows a turbulent year for the late-night host. In September 2025, ABC <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=ABC+Pulls+Jimmy+Kimmel%E2%80%99s+Late+Night+Show+%E2%80%98Indefinitely%E2%80%99+After+Charlie+Kirk+Comments">pulled</a> his show from the air following controversial remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
ABC initially said the program would be preempted indefinitely before Kimmel returned to the air several days later.
Kimmel has also remained one of President Donald Trump’s most frequent critics in late-night television, while Trump has repeatedly called for ABC to take action against the comedian. The political dispute has continued into 2026, although the sources cited by Page Six reportedly do not believe politics is the reason for the alleged decision to end the show.
Instead, Page Six reported that cost-cutting and restructuring at Disney could be a factor. The company has undergone broader restructuring under Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, including efforts to reduce costs.
Kimmel’s potential departure would come amid a broader shake-up in late-night television. CBS recently ended “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” another long-running program hosted by a comedian who has frequently targeted Trump and his administration.
&nbsp;

Jimmy Kimmel May Be Running Out Of Late Nights

charlie kirk

disney

jimmy kimmel live

late night television

When Dolly Parton died, the entire country went into mourning — Left and Right, virtually everyone. 
There&#8217;s a reason for that. Dolly Parton coded country. She coded Christian. She coded optimism. She coded entertainment. 
She did not code political. And she refused to engage in that way. 
This made her perhaps the most popular figure in America. 
We are never going to get another Dolly Parton because Hollywood will not allow it.
Jelly Roll just proved it.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-show-ep-2494?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Jimmy Kimmel has taken a couple of weeks off, and his substitute hosts are somehow even worse than Jimmy Kimmel. I didn&#8217;t know that was possible, but apparently it is. 
First there was Rosie O&#8217;Donnell, who returned from Ireland to wear hideous outfits and sing about the president&#8217;s penis. 
And then Jelly Roll showed up. 
You know him as the country singer who has shed a lot of pounds. He showed up to host Jimmy Kimmel’s show, and there he decided to do the obligatory mea culpa for his prior cultural conservatism by ripping into the president of the United States. He stated:
<blockquote>Well, Mr. President, from one fat pig to another, take it from me that physical fitness is very important. And trust me, you&#8217;ll be happy to see your penis again.</blockquote>
He came back and did another show the next night, and he defended his Trump jokes:
<blockquote>Let&#8217;s be honest for a second. Any U.S. president should be able to handle a few jokes, right? Yes, they should also be able to handle gas prices, health care, and the occasional international conflict. &#8230; Look, y&#8217;all, I get it that some people are mad at me for goofing on Trump, but if you wanted me to make jokes about Kamala Harris, you should have voted for her.</blockquote>
What is Jelly Roll doing? The answer is that in Hollywood, you no longer can just be Johnny Carson — where you make jokes about all the different sides — and you can no longer be Dolly Parton, where you make jokes about neither of the sides.
You just can&#8217;t do that anymore. You must repeat the left-wing nostrums. There comes a point in your career when you have to make a choice: Are you going to double down on the base? Are you going to keep dancing with the gal that brung ya? 
Or are you going to swivel hard into the cultural leftism and try to expand that base? This has been happening in the music industry for probably two to three decades, and it&#8217;s one of the reasons our cultural milieu has been completely fragmented.
That’s why there are no big stars anymore. It’s why no one can open a movie. It&#8217;s why there are very few crossover stars, even in the musical arena at this point. 
Jelly Roll is a great example of this. Remember, Jelly Roll didn&#8217;t just code conservative. He was very openly Christian and pretty conservative. His history resembles Parton&#8217;s in the sense that he&#8217;s a rags-to-riches story.
He was born Jason Bradley DeFord in Nashville in 1984 and ended up in jail before he even graduated high school. He was imprisoned at age 14. He welcomed his first child while he was still behind bars. Then, after he got out of jail and had his daughter, he decided to pursue his GED and try his hand at the music business. 
In 2003, he started out in hip-hop, pivoted to country and rock, and ended up on the Grand Ole Opry stage in November 2021. He turned into a national phenomenon. 
Along the way, he didn’t just code Country and code down-home; he also coded very hard Christian. In 2026, he won the Best Contemporary Country album. He said:
<blockquote>First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I&#8217;m listening. Lord, I am listening, Lord. Second of all, I want to thank my beautiful wife. I would have never changed my life without you. I&#8217;d end up dead or in jail. I&#8217;d have killed myself if it wasn&#8217;t for you and Jesus. I thank you for that. …
That&#8217;s why I wrote this album. I didn&#8217;t think I had a chance, y&#8217;all. There was days that I thought the darkest things. I was a horrible human. There was a moment in my life that all I had was a Bible this big, and a radio the same size and a six-by-eight-foot cell. And I believed that those two things could change my life. I believed that music had the power to change my life, and God had the power to change my life. And I want to tell y&#8217;all right now, Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by no music label. Jesus is Jesus and anybody can have a relationship with him.</blockquote>
This is how Jelly Roll coded: very, very, very faith-based. That was his image; he certainly didn&#8217;t code Left. There is tape of him greeting President Trump and Elon Musk at an event where they got along just fine. 
And then things changed. He&#8217;s been dropping a lot of pounds. He has been saying that he loves his new body. 
He got divorced in July from the woman whom he was paying homage to at the Country Music Awards. An insider said, “The reality is that he will always love her, but that doesn&#8217;t mean he wants to stay married. He&#8217;s in a very different place than he was when they met &#8230; Jelly feels healthy, focused and in control of his future.”
What&#8217;s going on here?
What&#8217;s going on is that there&#8217;s enormous cultural pressure for people who reach a certain level of stardom to then have “crossover stardom.”
And the way you get crossover stardom is to start signaling Left. 
You can&#8217;t just live in a culturally conservative space, even if you&#8217;re not overtly political. That&#8217;s not good enough. You must speak out on issues. You must. You&#8217;ll be forced to. 
This is why there will never be a Dolly Parton again, because 1) society will not allow there to be a Dolly Parton again, and because 2) our public figures don&#8217;t have the strength of character to avoid this.
A great example of this is Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is the most successful example of somebody who went from a Dolly Parton-type figure to somebody who&#8217;s overtly political. For years and years and years, there was speculation on the Right that Taylor Swift was secretly conservative because she started off in country and the gospel area.
When she was 22, she said, “Listen, people don&#8217;t want to hear my politics. I just figure I&#8217;m a 22-year-old singer. And, you know, I don&#8217;t know if people really want to hear my political views. I think they just kind of want to hear me sing songs about breakups and feelings.”
This sounds like something Dolly Parton would say. 
But within a few years, she realized this wasn&#8217;t where the money was. This wasn&#8217;t what would allow her to achieve crossover stardom. So she did a documentary for Netflix in which she pretty openly started pushing left-wing social values because her silence was too deafening. She needed to have that crossover appeal to the Left. It made her far richer. 
But that is the price of admission. The price of admission in today&#8217;s day and age is, you must repeat, particularly on social issues, the nostrums that the Left is pushing. You must. 
Taylor Swift, back in 2020, talked about how Christian values support abortion. She did the same thing in 2020 when she was pushing LGBTQ+- politics.
It was really important for her to speak like that, because the cultural Left in Hollywood will only allow you to become a gigantic crossover star if you say things that the Left wants you to say.
Katy Perry originally started singing Christian music; she was known by her birth name, Katy Hudson, at the time. Then it turned out she couldn&#8217;t sell copies. 
So she adopted the stage name Katy Perry. And then her first big hit was about experimenting with lesbianism, and then she became an Obama surrogate, and now she&#8217;s dating Justin Trudeau.
In other words, this is not rare. What you&#8217;re watching with Jelly Roll is how you do things in Hollywood. You cannot even mildly code conservative. You must be overtly liberal. 
If you&#8217;re Sydney Sweeney and you&#8217;re not overtly conservative, just kind of apolitical, but you code a little conservative because you&#8217;re a pretty white girl and you have a little bit of a country feel to you and because you once registered Republican, this means that you are a target in Hollywood.
If you are Chris Pratt and you&#8217;re a huge star and you&#8217;ve never said anything remotely offensive, but you&#8217;re openly Christian, and you don&#8217;t go to an LGBTQ+- church, then X will come after you incessantly for years on end. If you&#8217;re Gal Gadot and you just happen to be Israeli and pro-Israel, you will get blacklisted in Hollywood.
That&#8217;s how it works. If you&#8217;re Mark Ruffalo and pretty overtly anti-Semitic, you&#8217;ll never stop working. 
If you are on the Left, you will likely never stop working. 
But that doesn&#8217;t mean this is going to work for Jelly Roll. There&#8217;s a mixed record in the country arena for this. The Dixie Chicks were a huge band. And then, in 2003, Natalie Maines decided to go after George W. Bush in London while she was on stage. The Dixie Chicks had this huge cultural moment and then disappeared. 
Maren Morris had a breakout single that was literally called “My Church.” She ended up ostracized after public fights with Jason Aldean&#8217;s wife over the kids. She went after Morgan Wallen, and then she came out as bisexual. Has that been a big boon for her career? Probably not. 
Hollywood&#8217;s dynamic used to be obvious: The entertainment industry was about protecting your stars, singers, songwriters, movie stars, and athletes. The goal of our entertainment industry was to create marketable stars who were separate from their politics. You didn&#8217;t know much about the stars. All you knew was what you saw on the screen.
This is why Dolly Parton was very famous and very rich and very good at what she did. All you saw of Dolly Parton was what she wanted you to see. 
This is why American stars were transferable throughout the world. This is why the most famous people on planet Earth were all American stars. You didn&#8217;t know much about their politics at all; you just knew that they were stars. 
That&#8217;s when America was the dominant cultural force on the planet, because it was cool people doing cool things, and they avoided politics. 
And then everything had to be weaponized. The star power had to be weaponized. The entertainment industry had to be weaponized. We had to know every view of all of our stars, and the stars just weren’t stars anymore.
There won&#8217;t be any more Dolly Partons, because the entertainment industry will not allow there to be any more Dolly Partons. 
You must say the words. You must.
If you refuse to say the words, then they will treat you as though you are persona non grata. 
Jelly Roll made his decision. 
We&#8217;ll see how it works out for him.

IMG_6375

The Hidden Political Price Of Fame In America

dolly parton

hollywood

jelly roll

opinion

taylor swift

The Walt Disney Company and ABC sued the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, accusing the agency of violating the company’s First Amendment rights through an unprecedented early review of its broadcast licenses.
The lawsuit marks one of the most aggressive legal challenges yet by a major media company against the Trump administration and comes amid an escalating fight between Disney, ABC, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and President Donald Trump over the network’s programming — centered on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Disney’s eight ABC-owned television stations <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kimmel-uproar-spills-over-abc-stations-now-under-review-what-it-means-for-your-tv">were ordered</a> by the FCC in April to begin the license renewal process years ahead of schedule. The stations’ licenses were not otherwise due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest.
Disney argues that the FCC’s action is an unconstitutional attempt to pressure the company over the content it broadcasts. “Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” Disney attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
The company is asking a federal court to immediately block the FCC from taking or threatening action against Disney’s ABC stations in connection with the early renewal process. ABC has also requested a speedy hearing and a temporary restraining order.
Trump has repeatedly called for Kimmel to be fired, including after the president accused the late-night host of making a “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-wants-kimmel-fired-over-despicable-assassination-comment">despicable call to violence</a>” about the president and first lady Melania Trump. The FCC’s early review, however, formally centers on ABC’s broadcast licenses and the agency’s authority to determine whether broadcasters are operating in the “public interest.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has defended the agency’s actions, arguing that broadcasters using the nation’s public airwaves have obligations that do not apply to cable channels, streaming services, or podcasts. “If you want to uniquely be on the public’s airwaves, you have to comply with those obligations,” Carr told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/first-on-cnbc-transcript-fcc-chairman-brendan-carr-speaks-with-cnbcs-squawk-on-the-street-today.html">CNBC</a> in July.
Carr has argued that the FCC is not attempting to dictate what broadcasters say but is instead seeking to ensure that companies holding broadcast licenses meet their obligations to the public. Disney and ABC have rejected that characterization, previously accusing the FCC of attempting to chill constitutionally protected speech.
The conflict over ABC’s licenses intensified after the administration’s public clashes with Kimmel.
In September 2025, Disney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments">briefly pulled</a> “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the air after Carr publicly criticized Kimmel over comments he made following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel had questioned the motives attributed to Kirk’s alleged killer and criticized Republicans for their response to the killing.
The network ultimately returned Kimmel to the air, but the episode became a major flashpoint in the broader dispute over whether the government was improperly attempting to influence the content of broadcast television.
Disney’s lawsuit now argues that the FCC’s actions represent an “existential threat” to the company and its First Amendment rights.
“The Commission issued an unprecedented order requiring the Stations to file early applications to renew their licenses — years before any of their licenses would have come up for renewal in the ordinary course and allowing only thirty days to file applications which ordinarily take months to prepare,” Disney attorneys Beth Wilkinson and Paul Clement <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/abc-disney-sues-fcc-trump-administration-first-amendment-rcna593088">wrote</a>.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro signaled last week that the company was prepared to continue fighting the administration. “We’re going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity,” D’Amaro told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/14/first-on-cnbc-transcript-disney-ceo-josh-damaro-speaks-with-cnbcs-julia-boorstin-on-squawk-on-the-street-today.html">CNBC</a>. “And we’re not going to be told how to run that side of our business.”
“I like what we do. We tell incredible stories. I think we do it well. We do it around the world. And we’re going to stay committed to that,” he added.
The FCC has not indicated that Disney’s licenses will be revoked, and the agency’s review itself does not establish that ABC has violated federal law or FCC rules.
But the legal battle pits the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive approach toward broadcast media directly against one of the country’s largest entertainment companies.
The case could ultimately force the courts to address how far the federal government can go in enforcing the obligations attached to broadcast licenses without crossing the constitutional line into government control over protected speech.
Disney is asking the court to halt the FCC’s early renewal process while the broader dispute plays out.

Disney

Disney Goes To War With Trump’s FCC Over ABC, Jimmy Kimmel

brendan carr

Rosie O&#8217;Donnell will be featured as a guest host for Jimmy Kimmel&#8217;s show as the late-night host steps away for a few months.
“I asked one of our commander-in-chief’s all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming,” Kimmel said, <a href="https://pagesix.com/2026/06/20/entertainment/jimmy-kimmel-taps-longtime-trump-nemesis-rosie-odonnell-to-replace-him-as-he-steps-back-from-late-night-show/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_source=twitter">according</a> to Page Six.
O’Donnell’s selection carries a political edge because of her long-running feud with President Donald Trump. The former “View” co-host <a href="https://people.com/rosie-o-donnell-opens-up-about-child-clay-12-coming-out-nonbinary-11745558">left the United States</a> after Trump won a second term, moving to Ireland with her youngest child, Clay, who claims to be nonbinary.
In March, O’Donnell said she was officially living in Ireland and described the move as the safest and best decision for her family.
“I was never someone who thought I would move to another country,” O’Donnell said in a TikTok video. “You know, I’m happy. Clay is happy. I miss my other kids. I miss my friends. I miss many things about life there at home and I’m trying to find a home here in this beautiful country and when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back.”
Her feud with Trump escalated in July 2025, when the president said he was considering taking away her U.S. citizenship.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time, according to Page Six. “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA.”
O’Donnell responded in an Instagram post by saying Trump had “always hated” that she saw him as “a criminal con man sexual abusing liar out to harm our nation to serve himself.”
O’Donnell has since returned to the U.S. for visits, including a quiet two-week trip to see family and a recent appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” which films in New York City.
Now, she is set to return to late-night as one of Kimmel’s guest hosts.
Kimmel announced Thursday that he will take the next two months off from his late-night show, joking that he is doing so “this time voluntarily,” per Page Six. The remark appeared to reference the brief period ABC pulled his show over <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments">comments</a> he made pertaining to Charlie Kirk’s death in September.
The show will continue with a rotation of guest hosts, including Tiffany Haddish, Colman Domingo, Ike Barinholtz, Anthony Anderson, Jelly Roll and Rosie O’Donnell.

ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” – Season 14

Jimmy Kimmel’s Guest Host Lineup Includes A Name Trump Knows Well

Kimmel’s Guest Host Lineup Includes A Name Trump Knows Well

donald trump

rosie o'donnell

Elon Musk&#8217;s SpaceX IPO will undoubtedly be the biggest IPO in history. 
What&#8217;s unusual about this particular IPO is that it is widely available to retail investors, such as the man on the street. Typically, in any IPO, a certain percentage of the company&#8217;s stock is offered to the public, and a large percentage of that stock is already pre-purchased by institutional investors.
The pre-market valuation of the IPO is likely to be in the $1.77 trillion range, according to the Wall Street Journal.
That is not a bad thing. It is an amazing thing. But you are going to hear from all the wrong people that it&#8217;s immoral, terrible, even evil. Why?
Envy. It&#8217;s a universal human emotion, and envy is bad and wrong, and God explicitly condemns it.
What could destroy the country and the global economy is what has always threatened humanity: Envy.
Jimmy Kimmel is a beautiful example of this. Jimmy Kimmel is a multimillionaire who works for billionaires, and he&#8217;s upset about a prospective trillionaire.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/the-ben-shapiro-show-ep-2444?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Kimmel is an obnoxious, non-funny, woke pope of late-night TV, who&#8217;s probably worth somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. He is paid by people worth tens of billions of dollars to complain about a guy who built a company that would be worth $1.77 trillion.
Kimmel mocked:
<blockquote>Elon Musk came to the United States from South Africa in 1995, the son of a humble emerald mine owner, and he is so grateful to this country that allowed him to become a trillionaire. Tesla paid almost no federal income tax over the past three years. You know, for a guy who has been openly cheering immigrants getting kicked out of the country for stealing from us, sure seems like an immigrant who&#8217;s been stealing from us, to me.</blockquote>
This is just obnoxious trash. It is not true. Elon did not, in fact, grow up wealthy. His dad was kind of a mess. And as far as the idea that Elon came to the United States wealthy, that is eminently untrue. He was living in some of the worst apartments in America when he came here. And then he didn&#8217;t get a job at Netscape despite applying. And then he ended up becoming this unbelievable success.
The notion that he is stealing from Americans by building several of the most successful companies in American history is totally crazy.
What has Jimmy Kimmel built? Ever?
But here&#8217;s what&#8217;s really going on: Jimmy Kimmel doesn&#8217;t like that Elon is really, really, really rich.
Kimmel continued:
<blockquote>Trillion dollars. It&#8217;s hard for our brains to conceptualize that. I mean, we know a trillion is a number, but it&#8217;s so large. In the same way, we can&#8217;t fathom it the same way. We know, like Elon has a lot of kids when we can&#8217;t fathom him getting laid, right? So let me try to illustrate it. If you tried to count out loud to a trillion, you would be counting until the year 33,736. $1 trillion is 10 billion $100 bills.</blockquote>
I&#8217;m just wondering: Jimmy Kimmel is worth probably $100 million. If you counted to 100 million, it would take you about 3 years, if you counted one number per second and stayed up all night.
Why the envy, why the rage?
There’s certainly something political to it. Jimmy Kimmel was much nicer to Elon Musk back in 2013 when he had him on his show to talk about SpaceX.
He said to Musk:
<blockquote>You know, I want to go over some of your many accomplishments just for the audience in case they&#8217;re not familiar with them. In 1983, at age 12, you designed a video game and sold it to a computer magazine for $500. 1995, you quit the graduate program at Stanford to found Zip2. In 1999, you sold Zip2 to Compaq for $309 million.
You co-founded PayPal in 2000. You sold PayPal to eBay for a billion and a half dollars. You founded Space-X. You co-founded Tesla Motors. You helped create SolarCity, the solar power company. Well, it&#8217;s great to meet you. If you want to watch the launch, why wouldn&#8217;t you want to watch the launch of the Space-x rocket? On March 1 go to Space X.com and take a look.</blockquote>
Barack Obama toured SpaceX with Elon in 2010. The Democratic president of the United States marveled at it.
Musk was talking about reusable rockets back in 2010. That was not achieved for over half a decade. It was an enormous risk. And Obama was marveling at it at the time.
But now we&#8217;ve gone from that inspirational view to giant inflatable Elon Musks in Times Square with no shirt on and looking ugly.
What&#8217;s really going on here?
The answer is very simple: Envy.
There is a very interesting study in the journal &#8220;Frontiers in Psychology&#8221; from 2021 that discusses what are called “the two faces of envy.” The authors <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8578062/">wrote</a>:
<blockquote>Envy is like a wildfire destroying people. We feel envy for, a classmate who gets a good grade or, a neighbor who buys an expensive car. This kind of emotion drives our different behaviors, like small stones in the heart lake, ruining our peace of mind. &#8230; [Scholars] envy as “the intense, unpleasant feeling that one feels when one realizes that another has something that one strives for, pursues, or yearns for.” Envy is a painful emotion.</blockquote>
There are two kinds of envy. One is useful, and one is quite terrible.
One is benign envy: “The envious person may try to make themselves as good as the person being envied. Therefore, envy can increase personal effort, drive behavior to achieve the desired object, and to turn attention to the means of achieving it.”
And then there&#8217;s another type: malicious envy. This is where “The envious person may try to degrade the person being envied, to vilify or denigrate the other person&#8217;s advantages. Envy can increase schadenfreude behavior that leads to hostility and resentment. It can shift attention to the person being envied.”
By the way, it also leads to violence. There&#8217;s literally a full commandment among the Ten Commandments that is directly about envy: “You shall not covet your neighbor&#8217;s house, your neighbor&#8217;s wife, his servant, his ox, his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor&#8217;s.”
God takes the time to say envy is bad.
By the way, this is the only commandment that has to do with your feelings. All the rest are behaviorally driven: Don&#8217;t steal. Don&#8217;t kill, don&#8217;t blaspheme. Respect your parents and everyone else. This one is emotional. Why did God reserve one commandment for the emotion of envy?
Because it turns out the entire history of humanity relies on whether we can actually master our envy. This is the story of Cain and Abel. The story of Cain and Abel is about envy. Cain decides to sacrifice to God, and Abel follows suit. And God, for reasons we don&#8217;t understand from the Bible, accepts Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain&#8217;s.
And then God says, “Surely if you do right, you will be uplifted. But if you do not do right, sin crouches at your door. Its urge is toward you, but you can be its master.”
What is that sin? It&#8217;s envy. And what does Cain do? Instead of going to Abel and saying, “What did you do right and I did wrong? How can I do better?” he kills Abel.
Envy is destructive. It is terrible.
What&#8217;s interesting here is when we get envious, because it&#8217;s not a universal timing thing; it&#8217;s a universal human emotion, we feel it all the time.
But it tends to kick in for anyone who&#8217;s just above you on the wealth index. So if you make 100 grand, you may be envious of the guy who makes 200 grand.
But it&#8217;s not every person who makes more than you.
There is a particular envy for people who take risks.
That’s because in our heart of hearts, we think we could have done that too. We look at Elon, we say, “I could have founded a SpaceX company. He thought of it, but I could have thought of it. I could have taken the risk. It&#8217;s something that&#8217;s within my purview.”
It&#8217;s really, really interesting to watch New Yorkers who just voted for a Democratic socialist like Zohran Mamdani, who riffs on Citadel CEO Ken Griffin all day long and roots for the Knicks this season. The Knicks are super rich. Really, really, really rich. Karl-Anthony Towns made $53 million this year. OG Anunoby made $40 million. Jalen Brunson makes $35 million a year. That is a lot of money.
But you&#8217;re not seeing jealousy or outrage in the stadium. People aren&#8217;t showing up and yelling at them about how they need to redistribute their income and pay more taxes, and how many school teachers are out of a job, and do we need more government-sponsored grocery stores.
So why are people so envious of these guys? Because everyone recognizes that these guys have unique talents given by God. You&#8217;re not seven feet, you&#8217;re not 270 pounds, and you can&#8217;t shoot the three.
But when it’s a smart person who doesn&#8217;t have exceptional physical qualities, then we get pretty jealous. “Why didn&#8217;t we get what he has? Why don&#8217;t we all get to be Elon Musk-rich? He&#8217;s not that much better than we are.”
But here is the thing. The reason that Elon is super-rich — and I know a lot of people who are as bright as Elon, I know a lot of very high IQ people, and Elon has a very high IQ, he is much richer than any of them — is because he took risks, huge risks, unprecedented risks.
And that is good because risk is what creates innovation. If you don&#8217;t have people risking, you don&#8217;t get better stuff. If you don&#8217;t have people taking out mortgages on their homes to sponsor and subsidize them, a company won&#8217;t get built.
If you don&#8217;t have people willing to put their own money where their mouth is, their own time, their own effort, you do not get new things.
We need new things. Not only that, we need a system that allows you to keep what you make.
For every single Elon Musk in any industry, there are 10,000 dudes who thought of it, risked it, and failed.
What is the only thing that will keep people risking it and trying to do the thing that actually builds? The only thing that incentivizes that is the possibility of making a lot of money.
That’s what generates people willing to take the risks that actually make the world a better place.
Risk-taking is risky. Take, for example, Blue Origin, run by another billionaire, Jeff Bezos, a competitor to SpaceX. A couple of weeks ago, we watched a Blue Origin rocket explode on the ground. Billions of dollars were lost in one millisecond.
That’s what it looks like when you take risks, because sometimes you fail. You know how many videos there are of Elon Musk&#8217;s rockets blowing up on the launch pad?
How do you incentivize a person to keep looking failure in the face over and over and over again? You have to have an American system, a free-market system that rewards risk-taking and punishes failure and rewards success.
That is what you require. People forget that Elon Musk risked pretty much his entire early fortune on SpaceX and Tesla.
This is risk-taking, and it&#8217;s awesome, and it should be rewarded.
No matter what Jimmy Kimmel thinks.

spacex_envy

The Sin Fueling America’s War On Success

Ben Shapiro

elon musk

Envy

Jeff Bezos

spacex

Jimmy Kimmel got a little bit misty-eyed during Adam Carolla’s Walk of Fame ceremony on Wednesday.
The hyperpartisan late-night host put aside political beliefs during the ceremony for his longtime friend and former collaborator. Carolla is notoriously anti-woke, but Kimmel still showed up to speak at the event.
Kimmel started off by remembering when he was introduced to Carolla in 1994 when he was working on the Los Angeles radio show “Kevin and Bean.” Carolla, who was a boxing instructor, was brought in to prepare Kimmel for a boxing match. Kimmel said Carolla began roasting him immediately, saying, “Adam told ‘Kevin and Bean,’ ‘Jimmy is 160 pounds of pure chiseled steel. Unfortunately, he weighs 225.’”
“We did very little training. We would box for about eight minutes and then drink Snapple and go to lunch,” Kimmel added. “As a result, I lost that fight, but I gained a life partner. And if that sounds gay to you, it was and it is,” he said during the speech, calling Carolla “one of the funniest people” he’s ever met and the “Laverne to my Shirley.”  
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Jimmy Kimmel shares hilarious stories and gets emotional during Adam Carolla&#8217;s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony:
“Adam and I, as you probably know, don’t agree much when it comes to politics, but I love him dearly. I have never worked with anyone funnier.” <a href="https://t.co/JYtmpKiRHe">pic.twitter.com/JYtmpKiRHe</a>
— Variety (@Variety) <a href="https://x.com/Variety/status/2059714681875685455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kimmel brought up their opposing political beliefs, but said it didn’t change his feelings for his friend.
“Adam and I, as you probably know, don’t agree much when it comes to politics, but I love him dearly,” Kimmel went on. “I’ve never worked with anyone funnier. I am proud of him … this is a guy who worked his way up from nothing to become, literally, a millionaire, and if you don’t believe it you’ll hear him say it every single show.” 
“Adam is a true original,” he added. “He was a poor kid from the San Fernando Valley who was rejected by the management at Taco Bell, and whose name will now forever be part of this filthy, disgusting intersection,” Kimmel said of the star’s physical location.
Kimmel and Carolla are best known for the Comedy Central sketch show “The Man Show” and the prank call puppet show “Crank Yankers.” Kimmel went on to become a big name in late-night, while Carolla launched a podcast and has worked on various other entertainment projects, including comedy content and animated programming with The Daily Wire.

Kimmel and Carolla

Jimmy Kimmel Chokes Up During Adam Carolla’s Big Hollywood Moment

Adam Carolla

comedy

entertainment

The late-night comedy brigade gathered together during the final days of Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” to participate in their favorite activity: obsessing about President Trump.
Colbert hosted fellow late-night comedy hosts, including Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, on Monday’s episode as he gears up for the show’s big finale on May 21.
Kimmel, who was briefly suspended last fall after making false comments about the man who assassinated Charlie Kirk, suggested that viewers should watch more late-night television and cancel Paramount+. 
“We have a lot of shows. 30,000 people watching each one, and it adds up,” Kimmel said. “People watch us on YouTube now. People have a lot of different options and they keep coming to us. I will tell you, when I got knocked off the air for a few days, people canceled Disney+. Why aren’t people canceling Paramount+? Because you never had it in the first place?”
He also responded to Colbert’s question about whether any of the other hosts ever expected to be “doing a job that the president of the United States would have strong feelings about.”
“You know what’s even weirder? Doing a job that his wife has strong feelings about,” Kimmel replied, referring to the criticism he received for his tasteless joke about the first lady being an “expectant widow” just days before a man attempted to assassinate Trump. 
Meyers, who has hosted NBC&#8217;s Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014, said he appreciates having Trump as a fan. “The thing I like, he posts when the show airs, and I want to say I appreciate that he is watching linear television,” Meyers said during the “Late Show” appearance. “If I would make my case for late-night, it’s that leaders of the free world are watching it when it airs.”
CBS announced that “The Late Show” was ending in July 2025, mentioning that it was “purely a financial decision.” However, some have speculated that Colbert’s show was canceled due to the merger between Paramount and Skydance. 
Colbert has been vocally opposed to CBS&#8217;s decision to pull the plug on the show despite reports that the program was losing $40 million annually.
The political commentator went on to blame the format rather than the content of the show.
“It’s possible that two things can be true,” Colbert told NYT. “Broadcast can be in trouble. They cannot monetize because of things like YouTube, because of the competition of streaming. They’ve got the books, and I do not have any desire to debate them over what they say their business model is and how it does not work for them anymore. But less than two years before they called to say it’s over, they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time. So, something changed.”

Colbert and Kimmel

TV’s Most Humorless Late-Night Hosts Gather To Obsess Over Trump

Jimmy Fallon

Late-Night

paramount

Seth Meyers

television

It’s not just Jimmy Kimmel making late-night radioactive.
The comedian&#8217;s recent Trump assassination line drew plenty of heat, and rightly so, given that a third gunman just tried to kill the president days after that ABC broadcast.
There’s another, even more disturbing factor in play. Kimmel’s studio audience howled at the crack, part of an alarming trend with far-Left audiences. And, perhaps most troubling of all, Kimmel’s throng is about to expand.
Maybe by a lot. None of that bodes well for the national conversation.
Kimmel saying First Lady Melania Trump had the “glow like an expectant widow” didn’t happen in a vacuum. A few weeks earlier, “Saturday Night Live” uncorked a similarly themed gag that drew a hearty response.
“Weekend Update” co-host Michael Che noted that President Donald Trump took time away from the Oval Office to take in a Broadway show.
&#8220;I think that&#8217;s cool that the president is going to the theater. I mean, what&#8217;s the worst that could happen?&#8221; Once again, the crowd roared at the John Wilkes Booth insinuation.
Modern late-night audiences can’t stop laughing at real or imagined violence. Late in 2024, “The Daily Show’s” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XB2gjykF3M">Jon Stewart looked stunned</a> as the show’s audience greeted news of Luigi Mangione’s capture following the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson with boos.
“Look, I’m sorry guys,” Stewart meekly said.
Kimmel even did a bit showcasing how his <a href="https://decider.com/2024/12/11/jimmy-kimmel-live-staffers-texts-thirsting-unitedhealthcare-suspect-luigi-mangione-jailhouse-bride/">left-leaning female staffers had crushes on Mangione</a> following his alleged attack on a husband and father in cold blood.
Months later, Democrats began attacking Tesla dealerships to show their disgust with Elon Musk’s DOGE policies. Part-time “Daily Show” host Jordan Klepper seemingly justified the serial attacks.
“Maybe people are mad at you because you don’t seem to know what the [bleep] you’re doing!”
Once again, the crowd roared, and the message couldn’t be clearer. Violence is acceptable if directed toward one’s political foes.
Kimmel had previously jumped on the Left’s anti-Tesla bandwagon, marinating in his audience’s lust for violence. Here’s OutKick describing one <a href="https://www.outkick.com/culture/jimmy-kimmel-jokes-about-encouraging-people-burn-more-teslas-during-elon-musk-rant">particular monologue segment on the subject.</a>
&#8220;People have been vandalizing Tesla vehicles — new Tesla vehicles. Please don’t vandalize, don’t ever vandalize Tesla vehicles,&#8221; Kimmel said before taking a long pause while the audience laughed.
Left-wing violence is worthy of laughs and encouragement to the average Kimmel fan…and the host himself, apparently.
Here’s betting the hard-working Americans who own and operate Tesla dealerships weren’t amused. Nor should anyone be chuckling over political violence.
These aren’t just a few random X users leaning on their worst instincts. It’s people in a public venue showcasing vile sentiments. And, of course, cheering on comic ringleaders who have little interest in defusing that rage.
Just the opposite. 
Mere months ago, Kimmel held up a T-shirt on camera that read, “Donald J. Trump Is Gonna Kill You.” That was neither funny nor subtle, much like Kimmel’s brand.
And, through it all, the Legacy Media has circled the wagons. You won’t read a bracing op-ed column castigating Kimmel, Colbert, Stewart, or other late-night voices for finding real-world violence hysterical.
The Hollywood Reporter quickly <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/trumps-demand-jimmy-kimmel-fired-white-house-correspondents-dinner-1236577999/">rushed to defend Kimmel</a> following the “expectant widow” crack, downplaying any attempt to fire him. The following day, the same site noted how actress Gina Carano <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/gina-carano-ronda-rousey-mandalorian-grogu-1236579219/">took years to claw back her career</a> after being fired by Disney, which owns ABC, for a social media plea for tolerance.
The hypocrisy was lost on the venerable outfit.
Kimmel’s recent headlines find him the unofficial king of the far-Left resistance, and his fiefdom could get bigger soon. Colbert’s “Late Show” ends its 11-year run May 21, following publicized reports that the show loses CBS a jaw-dropping $40 million a year.
Colbert will pop up elsewhere, either on a YouTube channel or a streamer eager to recreate his late-night shtick.
His viewers, weaned on a steady diet of far-Left rage, will have to go somewhere. Chances are, they’ll give Kimmel a long, hard look. Late-night shows no longer grab the audiences that Johnny Carson did in his glory days. The media is far too splintered for that kind of unified audience.
Still, if you take Kimmel’s ratings — the most <a href="https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/stephen-colbert-late-night-weekly-ratings-1135-lead/">recent numbers</a> are 2.02 million viewers — and add some of that Colbert crowd (2.54 million), that’s a sizable bump. For what it’s worth, <a href="https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/june-2025-late-night-ratings-kimmel-colbert-fallon-meyers/">Kimmel’s ratings were smaller</a> before he misled viewers about Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin.
That, plus a Legacy Media arm that only encourages Kimmel to get meaner, suggests that Kimmel’s Resistance shtick will have a much broader platform going into the midterm elections and beyond.
The only chance that Kimmel’s late-night screeds go the way of Samantha Bee, Magic Johnson, and other late-night victims comes down to simple economics.
CBS claimed “The Late Show” under Colbert’s reign was losing the network $40 million a year. That show regularly beats Kimmel’s program in the ratings. So does anyone think “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is actually making a profit? At some point, will an ABC executive crunch the numbers and ask why a major corporation finds losing money acceptable?
Until then, the hateful show will go on. The scariest part? “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon is left-leaning but far less callous than his late-night peers. And he’s getting clobbered by both Kimmel and Colbert in the ratings.
Apparently, a large portion of the country craves hate and violence on their late-night TV.
More troubling news? Some of President Trump’s would-be assassins’ manifestos sound achingly similar to a standard Kimmel screed.
And just like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” there’s nothing funny about that.

The Hollywood Reporter Women In Entertainment Presented By Lifetime – Arrivals

The Kimmel Fallout Has Only Begun

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel claimed Thursday that President Donald Trump’s criticism of him is an attempt to distract from what he called the “Trump-Epstein files” and the “illegal war he started” in Iran. 
He can’t imagine it just might have something to do with the tasteless joke he told about Trump’s wife, Melania, having “a glow like an expectant widow,” delivered days before an attempted assassination at the White House Correspondents&#8217; Dinner.
Kimmel dismissed the backlash during his monologue, once again turning his focus on the president. 
“If incompetently presiding over not just one of but the lowest ratings in history is why I should be fired, we should both be out of a job,” Kimmel said, referencing reports of the president having low approval ratings.
“Isn’t there a war dragging on?” the comedian continued, lamenting that the president was speaking about any other topics. “Imagine if FDR had taken to the airwaves during the Battle of the Bulge to complain about a Little Orphan Annie comic strip he didn’t like? Trump has three wars going on right now: Iranians, Ukrainians, and comedians.”
The back-and-forth between Kimmel and conservatives has intensified since the assassination attempt last weekend. Critics have suggested that similar remarks targeting a Democratic president and first lady would have drawn significantly stronger backlash. 
First lady Melania Trump did not mince words in a scathing X post she shared Monday morning.
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” she wrote. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough.  It is time for ABC to take a stand,” the first lady added. “How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Kimmel has not issued an apology for the comments, and ABC has not announced any disciplinary action.

Kimmel

Kimmel Says He Knows The Real Reason Trump Wants Him Fired

The Federal Communications Commission is challenging Disney&#8217;s broadcast licenses as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.
An <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/2049194436505354626?s=20">FCC official confirmed to The Daily Wire</a> that ABC’s licenses are undergoing an early review, despite the standard renewal process that&#8217;s still several years off. Broadcast stations, including ABC, cannot operate over publicly owned airwaves without FCC licensing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: FCC orders the Walt Disney Company, American Broadcasting Company, and television subsidiaries to file early license renewal applications for their television stations.
&#8220;The FCC has been investigating The Walt Disney Company, its American Broadcasting Company, and its… <a href="https://t.co/8KZzuyMIsX">pic.twitter.com/8KZzuyMIsX</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/2049194436505354626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
The FCC has already scrutinized ABC’s broadcast license in connection with the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices. In an April 28 order, David J. Brown, chief of the video division, said the FCC has been investigating the Walt Disney Company for compliance violations.
&#8220;Specifically, the FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination. While Disney’s ABC has purported to respond to two FCC Letters of Inquiry Federal Communications Commission DA 26-416 2 (LOIs) as part of this investigation, the FCC has determined that additional actions are appropriate at this time,&#8221; Brown said.
&#8220;The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,&#8221; the order stated.
Disney will be required to file renewals for all of its licensed TV stations by May 28, 2026.
A Disney spokesperson confirmed the order and vowed the company will fight it.
&#8220;ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming. We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment, and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels,&#8221; the company said in a statement to The Daily Wire.
If the FCC starts pressuring or reviewing licenses, local ABC stations could be forced to change how they operate — what they air, how they cover stories, even who they hire. That can trickle down into less freedom in programming or more cautious, filtered content. For everyday Americans, it could mean the news and entertainment you see is shaped more by regulatory pressure than just editorial decisions — especially on major networks you already watch every day.
The escalating FCC-Disney feud comes as conservatives called on the network to oust late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for joking that First Lady Melania Trump looked like an “expectant widow” — just days before a gunman attempted to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents&#8217; dinner.
“His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” the First Lady said in a rare rebuke. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she added. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,” she added.
Soon after, the president piled on, saying Kimmel &#8220;should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.&#8221;
In a Monday night monologue, a defiant Kimmel defended his remarks and refused to apologize.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” he said. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”
“I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular,” he said. “But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend … and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

Jimmy Kimmel

Kimmel Uproar Spills Over, ABC Stations Now Under Review. What It Means For Your TV.

WASHINGTON — ABC is remaining silent amid calls from the White House for late night show host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired for joking that Melania Trump looked like an &#8220;expectant widow&#8221; — just days before another would-be assassin tried to kill Donald Trump.
&#8220;I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,&#8221; President Donald Trump said on Monday afternoon. &#8220;Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s comments followed a rare statement from his wife, who said on Monday that &#8220;Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country.&#8221;
&#8220;His monologue about my family isn’t comedy — his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,&#8221; the First Lady said. &#8220;People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.&#8221;
&#8220;A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,&#8221; she added. &#8220;Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.&#8221;
The Daily Wire has repeatedly reached out to both ABC and Kimmel&#8217;s representatives over the past 24 hours about the White House statements. Neither ABC nor Kimmel&#8217;s team has responded to requests for comment.
The network recently announced its decision to pull &#8220;The Bachelorette&#8221; amid concerns over bachelorette Taylor Frankie Paul and domestic violence videos that surfaced. Years earlier, the network cancelled host Chris Harrison for defending bachelorette contestant Rachael Kirkconnell after photos surfaced of her attending an antebellum-themed party.
Kimmel&#8217;s remarks, however, have not appeared to faze the network, despite aggressive condemnation from the White House.
“Who in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?” questioned Karoline Leavitt from the briefing room podium on Monday afternoon.
<div id="attachment_1085511" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-presses-abc-on-kimmels-melania-widow-joke-crickets/abcs-jimmy-kimmel-live-season-14-4" rel="attachment wp-att-1085511"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1085511" class="wp-image-1085511 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-534439408-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-534439408-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-534439408-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-534439408-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-534439408.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)</div>
Kimmel, meanwhile, defended his remarks without apologizing, claiming he was joking about the Trumps&#8217; age difference, mocking the Trumps, and even repeating the joke.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”
&#8220;I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence, in particular,&#8221; he said during his stand-up bit. &#8220;But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend &#8230; and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
Kimmel&#8217;s defense prompted a scathing response from Steven Cheung, the White House Director of Communications.
&#8220;Jimmy Kimmel is a sh*t human being for: #1. Making a disgusting joke about assassinating the President #2. Doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing,&#8221; Cheung said.
&#8220;ABC needs to fire him immediately and he should be shunned for the rest of his life,&#8221; he said.
ABC has still not responded to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.

ABC News Silent As White House Calls For Jimmy Kimmel Firing

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