Jimmy Kimmel Inks ABC Contract Extension After Trump-FCC Culture War

[demmiblue]

Jimmy Kimmel will remain at ABC for a while longer.

The late night host has signed a one-year extension with the network that will take Jimmy Kimmel Live! through the end of the 2026-27 TV season. Kimmel’s current deal was set to end in May 2026.

The extension, first reported by Bloomberg, comes on the heels of a tumultous few months for Kimmel that saw him briefly suspended in September for comments about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a record audience for his return and ongoing sparring with President Donald Trump.

Kimmel thought that when he was initially suspended by ABC, that his tenure on the network was coming to an end. “I thought that it’s over. I was like, I’m never coming back on the air,” he told Stephen Colbert.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jimmy-kimmel-extends-abc-deal-2026-27-1236445167/

[UTUSN]

1. K&R - I'll bet that if KRASNOV croaks or departs Jimmy will sign off

as a gesture of good will, or maybe my job here is done.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. BREAKING: THE JOKE'S ON TRUMP! Jimmy Kimmel signs new ABC deal in defiant slap back.

This makes me smile

Link to tweet

In a humiliating twist for Donald Trump — who seems to spend more time rage-watching late-night TV than governing — Jimmy Kimmel just secured a fresh one-year extension with ABC. That’s right: while Trump publicly demands his firing like a wannabe media dictator, Kimmel is locking in paychecks through May 2027.

According to Bloomberg, Kimmel told his staff the good news on Monday, just months after ABC briefly suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! under pressure from the MAGA outrage machine. The supposed offense? Kimmel dared to tell the truth about the extremist roots of the young man who assassinated GOP activist Charlie Kirk — a narrative the Trump universe has been desperately trying to bury.

Enter Trump’s FCC chair Brendan Carr, who went full authoritarian cosplay on MAGA maniac Benny Johnson’s podcast, threatening “remedies” against ABC and darkly musing about government punishment for a comedian telling jokes they don’t like. Because nothing says “small-government conservative” like using federal power to silence late-night monologues.

But the tantrums didn’t work. Kimmel is still standing — and still roasting.

“Every five weeks, President Trump flips out and wants me fired,” Kimmel quipped recently, thanking Trump for watching the show live, “instead of on YouTube.” Then he twisted the knife: “It’s viewers like you who keep us on the air.”

And how did Trump handle the news at the Kennedy Center last week? By rambling about how he’s a better awards host than Kimmel — because apparently nothing soothes the presidential ego like imagining himself as a B-list master of ceremonies.

Trump fumed. Kimmel won. Free speech survived another day.

[Xolodno]

3. Kimmel has stated a number of times this was his last contract and will bow out.

I bet Trump convinced him to stay on just a bit longer.