Photo: Getty Images
Jimmy Kimmel will remain with ABC through at least May 2027 after agreeing to a one-year contract extension, ABC News confirmed following multiple reports Monday (December 8) night.
Kimmel, 58, has hosted his late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, since 2003, also hosts Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and had previously hosted the Academy Awards for the network in the past for the network. The deal comes less than three months after Kimmel was temporarily suspended from his late-night talk show for comments about the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel had claimed that "the MAGA gang" attempted to characterize Tyler Robinson, the suspect accused in Charlie Kirk's murder, as "anything other than one of them" when there was speculation about Robinson's political affiliation. Robinson was reported to have grown up in a conservative household, but allegedly told his father over the phone he killed Kirk because he "spreads too much hate," while his mother claimed "that over the last year or so" he had "become more political and had started to lean to the left," according to Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray via ABC News.
Kimmel's show was suspended for several days before he made his return on September 23, with Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group eventually ending their respective blackouts days later. Kimmel gave an impassioned defense of free speech, jabbing at President Donald Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, while explaining his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during his return to ABC airwaves from suspension.
"It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man," Kimmel said while battling tears. "I don't think there's anything funny about it."
The talk show host said he never intended to blame a specific group for the incident after receiving backlash.
"That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make," Kimmel said. "But to some, that felt ill-timed or unclear or maybe both, and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you're upset. If the situation was reversed, there's a good chance I would have felt the same way."
"I don't think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution. And it isn't -- ever," he added.
Kimmel also called Carr's podcast comments suggesting he should be suspended "un-American" while thanking his supporters, noting that several top conservative pundits came to his defense publicly.
"This show is not important," Kimmel said. "What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this."
Kimmel also accused President Donald Trump's administration of having "tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show, in the cities that you live in, to take my show off the air.”
"That’s not legal. That’s not American, that is un-American, and it’s so dangerous,” he said.