Kimmel’s Exit Comes With a Much Bigger Fight Hanging Over ABC
Another one bites the dust. After nearly a quarter-century behind ABC’s late-night desk, Jimmy Kimmel Live! is reportedly headed for curtain call in 2027, with sources telling Page Six that Jimmy Kimmel’s contract is not expected to be extended beyond the upcoming season.
The report says the show would end in May 2027, bringing Kimmel’s run to 24 years. ABC, however, has not formally confirmed that the series is ending, so for now this remains a reported decision rather than an official network announcement.
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Late Night Is Changing Fast
Jimmy Kimmel’s reported exit would close another major chapter in network late night as broadcasters rethink costs, audiences and the future of the format.
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On paper, the explanation may be less dramatic than the headline. Page Six reports that insiders are pointing toward cost-cutting and restructuring at Disney under CEO Josh D’Amaro rather than one single political confrontation. Late-night television is expensive, linear ratings have continued to soften, and the entire format is being reevaluated as audiences scatter across streaming, clips and social platforms.
But this is where the story gets considerably messier.
Kimmel’s relationship with Donald Trump and the current White House has been openly hostile for years, and that feud stopped being merely rhetorical once the Federal Communications Commission entered the picture.
In 2025, after comments by Kimmel triggered political outrage, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly warned that broadcasters could face additional FCC scrutiny if they did not take action. ABC temporarily suspended production of Jimmy Kimmel Live! before bringing the show back. Carr later disputed claims that the agency had threatened to revoke licenses over Kimmel specifically, but the episode immediately raised First Amendment concerns among lawmakers, free-speech advocates and one of Carr’s fellow FCC commissioners.
The pressure did not disappear when Kimmel returned.
In April 2026, after Trump again publicly demanded that ABC fire Kimmel, Carr’s FCC moved to conduct an unusually early review of licenses belonging to eight ABC-owned television stations. Disney and ABC later sued the FCC, arguing that the reviews amounted to political retaliation and an unconstitutional attempt to influence the network’s editorial decisions.
ABC has gone even further in court, alleging that fear of FCC retaliation has already affected programming decisions. The network says the government’s actions pose an “existential threat” to its ability to operate its stations independently. The FCC rejects that characterization and says its reviews concern whether broadcasters continue to serve the public interest.
And that context is why we are not quite ready to file Kimmel’s reported exit under the neat little label of “corporate restructuring” and move along.
Our suspicion? The White House-FCC pressure campaign is at least part of the atmosphere surrounding this decision. To be clear, there is currently no public evidence proving that Trump, the White House or Carr ordered Disney to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and the reporting available so far points to cost-cutting as the more immediate business explanation.
But pretending the political pressure is irrelevant would require ignoring what has happened in plain sight: Trump has repeatedly called for Kimmel to be fired, the White House has amplified attacks on him, the FCC has taken extraordinary regulatory action against ABC stations, and Disney is now suing the agency over what it says is government intimidation.
That does not prove a direct order came down from Washington. It does make the timing hard to look at without raising an eyebrow.
Kimmel has also worked under unusually flexible contracts in recent years, often renewing on a shorter-term basis rather than locking himself into a long multi-year deal. That means an exit was always possible on ordinary career grounds. After 24 years, he may simply be ready to leave. Disney may simply be ready to stop paying for one of television’s most expensive legacy formats. Both things can be true while the political climate around ABC remains deeply abnormal.
If the report holds, Kimmel’s departure would mark another enormous shift for traditional late night. CBS has already moved on from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and the economics of nightly broadcast comedy look very different from the era when Kimmel entered the field in 2003.
Still, ending Jimmy Kimmel Live! after 24 years in the middle of an active fight between Disney, the FCC and a president who has repeatedly demanded Kimmel’s removal is not going to read like an ordinary retirement story. Not to us.
Sometimes the boogeyman may get his way. But in the end, he never lives forever.
Watch Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s “Unnecessary Censorship” Clip
The clip is from Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s recurring “Unnecessary Censorship” segment.
Source: Page Six; Reuters; Associated Press; Federal Communications Commission; Jimmy Kimmel Live!
