The fiasco surrounding late-night TV hosts getting cancelled left and right reached its peak when Jimmy Kimmel Live was taken off the air by television network ABC. The entire Hollywood and television industry rallied behind the host, and soon enough, Kimmel found himself and his talk show reinstated. To talk about the whole episode and what all transpired behind the scenes, Kimmel recently visited another talk show host to discuss employment, politics, and friendship.
Kimmel and Stephen Colbert both made a special appearance on each other’s talk shows as guests. During Kimmel’s visit to The Late Show, he recalled how ABC broke the news to him and the chaos that ensued soon after. He told Stephen that “It was an emotional rollercoaster; it really was. It was about 3 pm, and we tape our show at 4:30. I was in my office, typing away. I got a phone call from ABC executives. They say they want to talk to me, and this is very unusual. I had like 5 people working in my office, so I went to the bathroom to take the call. They say, ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down, and we are concerned about what you are going to say tonight. We have decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.’ I said, ‘I don’t think that it’s a good idea.’ There was a vote, and I lost it.”
He continued and said, “I called my executive producers, and I told them about the situation. The first thing that occurred to me was, ‘This is over. ‘I am never coming back.’ We told our staff, and we had to send the audience back because they were already in their seats. Then I go home, and I am being followed by 20 paparazzi cars and two helicopters. We get to the house, and we are shaken. My daughter, who is 11 years old, came up to me and said, ‘I can sell my Labubu dolls,’ and it was actually very sweet. It was like a DUI in LA, where I was in jail for three days, and I couldn’t say anything.”
Kimmel and Colbert were later joined by Kimmel’s co-conspirator Guillermo, who brought out tequila for the three of them. The band played the song ‘Tequila’ by The Champs in the background as Stephen raised a toast to “Good friends, great jobs and late-night TV.” Kimmel then raised a toast to Colbert, as the three downed another shot.
Talking about his show and President Donald Trump, Kimmel said, “I am grateful for being able to put on a show every day. It’s terrible what happened to your show and your staff. That son of a b***h is really unbelievable. I never imagined that we would ever have a president like this, and I hope that we never have a president like this again. I never thought the president would celebrate hundreds of people losing their jobs and would take pleasure in that. That, to me, is the complete opposite of what a leader is supposed to be.
