With the ongoing battle of late night TV, there’s no doubt that the future of it is in question. The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert could have set a dangerous precedent, but Disney is seeing things in a different way.
As we previously reported, Jimmy Kimmel Live is here to stay. At least, for an extra year. Jimmy Kimmel has extended his current contract to May 2027, and this offers some hope that the attack on late night TV isn’t going to do too much damage.
Jimmy Kimmel is here to stay (for now)
There were times when it looked like maybe Jimmy Kimmel was done. We had the suspension back in September, and then there was the shocking and heartbreaking death of his longtime friend and leader of the house band, Cleto Escobedo III.
President Donald Trump hasn’t stopped going on about Kimmel via his Truth Social posts, which leads to Kimmel firing back. This constant back and forth arguably led to some questions about whether Disney would even want to keep the show on the air.
Well, it’s good news for us, because Disney has decided that Kimmel needs to stick around. On top of that, Kimmel wants to stick around, so he’s here to stay until at least May 2027 — and then, I guess we’ll see what the state of the world is.
It’s a win for First Amendment Rights
More importantly, Kimmel’s contract extension is a win for First Amendment Rights. When Kimmel was suspended, there were many questions over the government overreach. After all, the First Amendment Rights protects free speech from government censorship. By Trump repeatedly calling for Kimmel to be removed and his show getting suspended, it suggested that he was being silenced.
If this was allowed to continue, there were concerns for other late night TV show hosts. If Kimmel was gone, who would Trump decide to focus so much energy on next?
And of course, if the ratings were genuinely in a decline or dangerously low, then ABC would have ever right to pull the series. The benefit of Jimmy Kimmel Live is that the show goes to Hulu and clips head to YouTube, making it easier for people to watch. And you can see from the YouTube channel that people are paying attention, even if they’re not watching live. So, if ABC pulled the show, it wouldn’t be due to the ratings.
So, with Disney extending Kimmel’s contract, it becomes a win for First Amendment Rights. Trump can try to silence Kimmel all he wants, but Disney is going to uphold that First Amendment as much as possible. Well, don’t they have to after the backlash from September?
Jimmy Kimmel Live airs on weeknights at 11:35/10:35c on ABC.