It seems Jimmy Kimmel has a backup plan in place should ABC actually choose to cancel Jimmy Kimmel Live as President Donald Trump so desperately hopes it will do.
During a recent appearance on Sarah Silverman’s The Sarah Silverman Podcast, Kimmel revealed that he has secured Italian citizenship and seemed to hint that he’s ready to follow the likes of former talk show hosts Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres in leaving the US. According to the long-running host of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, he has obtained Italian citizenship, a move that suggests the late-night host is planning ahead should the time come when remaining in the US is no longer in his best interest.
"I did get Italian citizenship, I do have that. What's going on is as bad as you thought it was gonna be. It's so much worse, it's just unbelievable - I feel like it's probably even worse than he would like it to be,” Kimmel revealed, hinting that he has a contingency plan in place should he need to leave the US.
Although Kimmel did not elaborate on plans to leave the US or even hint at an imminent departure, it’s clear that the late-night host wants to have a Plan B lined up. And understandably so.
News that Kimmel has obtained Italian citizenship comes as President Trump continues to single Kimmel out, hinting that the long-time host will soon be joining The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert on the unemployment line.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on July 18.
Kimmel was quick to clap back following President Trump's remarks, taking to Instagram for a family photo in which Kimmel and his family were donning anti-Trump shirts with signs with messages such as "Make America Good Again, “Don’t bend the knee,” and “I wish we had a better president.” The photo was accompanied by a “May every day be another wonderful secret," which was a reference to a controversial letter Trump allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein that concluded with that very line.
Following the initial fallout of The Late Show’s cancellation, Trump has continued to allege that Kimmel will be next in line to be canceled. Most recently, Trump alleged that Kimmel and The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon are both talentless comedians who are “going to be going.”
“Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They're next. They're going to be going, I hear they're going to be going,” Trump claimed in a recent press conference.
Interestingly, ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Company, have not addressed the ongoing claims that Kimmel is in danger of being canceled next. However, it’s likely the network simply sees no value in openly acknowledging the claims, though it would be nice to see the company release a statement in support of Kimmel.
Late-night and daytime hosts have been coming under elevated scrutiny from the White House, which has been taking aim at everyone from late-night’s Kimmel, Colbert, and Fallon, to daytime hosts on The View and even Gayle King of CBS Mornings. It’s understandable that Kimmel has taken steps to secure citizenship outside of the US and is planning ahead in what the WGA itself has called an “authoritarian assault” on free speech.