Disney announced that ABC's late-night program Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted indefinitely on ABC, citing a sustained ratings decline and fallout from controversial remarks about the assassination of conservative figure Charlie Kirk. The move comes after protests from ABC affiliates and pressure from regulators, who argued that the show’s content warranted scrutiny. The decision effectively ends the program’s run on the network’s linear schedule for the foreseeable future, though ABC and Disney declined to specify a return date.
Over the past decade, Jimmy Kimmel Live! has seen a steady slide in audience size. The show averaged about 2.4 million viewers in 2015, with only modest drops in the next two years, but the audience has generally trended downward since then. By 2025, average nightly viewership had fallen to roughly 1.6 million, a 37% decline compared with 2015. The decline is even more pronounced in the advertiser-friendly 25-54 demographic, where the show fell from approximately 1 million viewers in 2015 to 261,000 in 2025—a 72% drop. In the same period, competition in late-night has grown stiffer; Fox News Channel’s Gutfeld! averaged about 3.2 million total viewers in 2025, more than double Kimmel’s 1.6 million, while Gutfeld! led among adults 25-54 with about 381,000 viewers to Kimmel's 261,000. Gutfeld! also topped Kimmel in the 18-49 category, with 248,000 younger viewers versus 177,000 for Kimmel.
The timing of the move aligns with heightened scrutiny of Kimmel’s remarks that touched on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a conservative figure. On Monday, Kimmel criticized conservatives for linking a 22-year-old suspect to MAGA rhetoric, a position prosecutors later reaffirmed in Tuesday’s indictment. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued a threat against Disney if the company did not address the controversy, and Nexstar Media Group, which owns hundreds of ABC affiliates, announced it would preempt Kimmel’s show starting Wednesday night for the foreseeable future and replace it with alternative programming. Sinclair, Inc., which operates ABC stations in about 30 markets, followed suit. Disney then decided to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air altogether, stating that the program would be preempted indefinitely.
Industry observers note that the decision sits at the intersection of ratings realities and a volatile political moment. The broader late-night landscape has shifted as streaming and cord-cutting reshape how audiences consume talk shows, and not all hosts have experienced the same declines. The move also underscores the leverage affiliates and regulators can exert when network programming triggers controversy that regulators deem problematic or damaging to a station’s relationship with viewers or advertisers.
Kimmel has defended the show’s content in the wake of the backlash, arguing that critics from the political right have embraced a new, harsher standard for late-night commentary. He has said conservatives are attempting to recast the incident for political gain and has criticized the broader political discourse surrounding the case. Trump, who had once appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, suggested to reporters that the show’s poor ratings were the primary reason for its removal, a claim that aligns with industry observers’ assessment of a long-running audience slide rather than a single event.
Disney representatives said the decision was made after careful consideration of the show’s performance and the surrounding controversy, adding that the network would replace the time slot with other programming while the matter is ongoing. The company did not provide a timeline for resumption of normal operations and indicated that the show’s status would be kept under review as the situation evolves. The absence of a concrete return date leaves ABC affiliates and advertisers navigating how to fill the late-night hour in the immediate future, while fans await further information on whether Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to ABC.
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