The future of Jimmy Kimmel’s relationship with ABC hangs in balance after the network confirmed it has “indefinitely” pulled the comedian’s late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The move has left fans wondering whether the ABC late night staple will ever return, but the status of Kimmel’s other show with the network, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” is also in question.
Here’s what we know about the fallout and the future of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel hosted shows.
Why was “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” taken off air?
ABC says the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show is a result of comments the host made following the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
The host criticized supporters of President Donald Trump after the arrest of Tyler Robinson, who was charged in Kirk’s murder.
Kimmel also denounced Trump’s response to the shooting, saying the president “blamed Democrats.”
“With all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn’t.”
Trump, a frequent critic of Kimmel, took to Truth Social to celebrate his suspension writing, “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk?
During Monday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Kimmel opened his monologue saying, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Kimmel continued, “In between the finger-pointing, there was, uh, grieving on Friday — the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”
He then cut to footage of the President responding to a question about how he was dealing with Kirk’s death with a quick segue to point out construction of the White House ballroom.
“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
What is the fate of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
The future of the Jimmy Kimmel hosted “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” hasn’t been addressed to the public following the Emmy winner‘s suspension from his late night show.
The game show, which is also executive produced by Kimmel, is at the end of its fourth season amid ABC’s decision to “indefinitely” suspend the host. In fact, the beloved show is supposed to release its season finale next Thursday, but will it air?
While the answer to this question is uncertain, Puck journalist Matthew Belloni wrote on X: “ABC source says “no plans” to pull “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. At least not until @BrendanCarrFCC sees this tweet and asks that it be pulled.”
What does Kimmel’s suspension mean for other late night shows?
President Trump has also called for the cancellation of “The Late Night Show starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
“That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
After outcries about the state of free speech, Trump dismissed those claims saying that “bad ratings” were the cause of Kimmel’s suspension.
“You can call that free speech or not,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “He was fired for lack of talent.”
Kimmel’s show has held second place among late night TV viewers overall in 2025.
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, says that “Something’s gone seriously awry” with late-night shows, adding they’re “enforcing a very narrow political ideology” instead of “being court jesters that would make fun of everybody in power.”
In an interview on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, Carr also noted that Nextar and Sinclair would follow suit.
“And Nexstar, as you noted, stood up and said, ‘Look, we have the license, and we don’t want to run this anymore,” Carr added. “We don’t think it serves the interests of our community.’ Sinclair did the same thing.”
“So, there’s more work to go, but I’m very glad to see that America’s broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community. We don’t just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood.”
