Here is a shocker: despite Donald Trump’s gleeful tweet last Wednesday, it appears that Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t fired by ABC after all.
The Disney-owned broadcast network issued a statement Tuesday announcing that, after a suspension designed as a cooling off period, and conversations with Kimmel and others involved, the host on the hot seat was free to speak again. He will start reviving Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s ratings right away; tonight. (Canadian Sarah McLachlan will be one of the guests.) Disney CEO Bob Iger, thank you for standing up to bullies at the FCC and the White House. Hey everybody — we’re going to Disneyland!
Kimmel came out of hiding on social media long enough Tuesday to post a photo of himself with one of his heroes, Norman Lear. The two had teamed on a a few of those wonderful Live from In Front of a Studio Audience specials where today’s actors re-enacted scenes from scripts from some of Lear’s landmark sitcoms from the ’70s, including All in the Family and The Jeffersons. In his post, Kimmel noted that Lear had been on the infamous “enemies list” of Richard Nixon, whose tenure at the White House as president spanned 1969-74.
Lear, who died in December of 2023 age 101, endured attacks back in his day from Reverand Donald Wildmon, a Mississippi minister and founder of the American Family Association. This letter writer strongly objected to All in the Family, an edgy and hilarous sitcom starring Carrol O’Connor as Archie Bunker, a bigot from Queens. It was the No. 1 show in American television for five straight years despite Rev. Wildmon’s efforts, which were stoked at the time by the Federal Communications Commission.
This is the same FCC, now led by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, that was poised to smight Jimmy for comments made, they said, about slain activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel, it would appear, takes pride in taking his place next to Lear in the Enemies List Hall of Fame.
Perhaps there will be a ceremony tonight at 11:35 pm ET at Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard. I expect Kimmel will be moved to tears by a thunderous ovation and that he will thank his wife and executive producer Molly McNearney and his loyal staff for standing with him. Maybe previous arch villan Matt Damon will stop by and give him a hug, and then be bumped.
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In what will be the biggest return of a host since Jack Paar walked off the Tonight Show in 1960, what I don’t expect to hear is an apology. There may be a clarification, something Kimmel was prepared to deliver last Wednesday when his series was temporarily put on ice. Perhaps there will be some outreach to supporters and family members of Mr. Kirk.
This will probably not be enough for Right-leaning affiliate station owners at Nextar and Sinclair — folks who will need FCC approval for future ownership malarchy. They seem determined to not carry Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night or for who knows how long. Hey, they own these stations and that is their prerogative for as long as ABC will tolerate their various partnership and contract violations.
Will this dent the ratings? It will not. Sinclair owns small market stations mainly in Red States. Their biggest market is in Washington DC and Trump was never going to watch “loser” Kimmel again anyway. Other stations in St. Louis, Rochester, NY, and Columbus, Ohio, are all in areas were Kimmel’s timeslot might just as well be swapped for reruns of Gomer Pyle, USMC.
Besides, people who want to see what Jimmy does Tuesday night, anywhere around the world, can simply do what they already do — watch him next day on YouTube, or via the illegal Russian dish that provides all their college football games on every single affiliate station all across America.
Sinclair and Nextar, stay home, turn out the lights. Let us know when you are ready for some free speech or free listening. Thank youy for you attention to this matter.
