President Donald Trump is celebrating Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! — a move that has ignited one of the most significant cultural flashpoints in recent memory, blending late-night comedy, free speech, and politics into a combustible mix.
On his Truth Social account, Trump wasted no time declaring victory. “Great News for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. 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,” he wrote. He went further, calling on NBC to ax Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, branding them “two total losers.”
During his U.K. state visit, Trump even told reporters that Kimmel had been “fired,” though ABC officially described the move as an indefinite suspension.
The remarks capped a week that saw Jimmy Kimmel Live! vanish from the ABC lineup after Nexstar Media Group said it would preempt the show in its markets, citing Kimmel’s monologue linking the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk to the MAGA movement. The decision came under the shadow of FCC chair Brendan Carr warning broadcasters of possible regulatory consequences.
A Cultural Collision
What might have once been dismissed as another Trump-late-night feud now feels like something bigger: a clash over who controls the cultural stage. For two decades, Kimmel has been part of the late-night ecosystem that mixes celebrity interviews with pointed political satire. To see his show sidelined — not by ratings but by political pressure — has galvanized both critics and supporters.
Hollywood unions, including SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild, the Producers Guild, and the American Federation of Musicians, have condemned the move as a form of censorship. Former President Barack Obama called it “a dangerous level of government coercion.” Outside Disney’s Burbank gates, hundreds of protesters gathered with signs accusing executives of “bending the knee.”
For Trump, however, the decision was cause for celebration. It wasn’t just about Jimmy Kimmel. It was about a cultural landscape where, for years, late-night hosts served as some of his loudest detractors. Now, one of those voices is off the air.
What’s at Stake
The fallout isn’t just about Kimmel’s future, though; questions loom about whether ABC will bring him back. It’s about whether political pressure can dictate what satire looks like in America. If late-night comedy has long been the country’s after-hours conversation, a messy, irreverent space where cultural and political tensions collide, then the Kimmel suspension marks a turning point in that dialogue.
The message from Trump was clear: he views the removal as a personal and political win. The message from Hollywood is equally clear: this fight is about something larger than one talk show.
Late-night television, once just a place for laughs and music, has become a stage for America’s culture wars. And right now, Jimmy Kimmel is at the center of it.
REELated:
ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel Live! after Charlie Kirk comments
