Jimmy Kimmel learned in a phone call Wednesday afternoon that his 22-year late-night run on ABC was put on hold, at least for now.
Deadline understands that the person on the other end of the line of the phone was Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden.
Just hours before Kimmel was set to start filming tonight’s show, Disney’s top TV exec had a “thoughtful conversation” with the comedian, per sources. This came after the decision was made by Walden and CEO Iger.
“Both sides were very businesslike and polite,” one source said.
Walden and Iger made the decision to “preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! “indefinitely” to tamp down controversy after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer “some of the sickest conduct possible”.
Kimmel made it clear he was unwilling to apologize for his remarks, according to insiders, and was going to direct the focus on President Trump’s most fervent supporters, who have been in uproar since Monday night when Kimmel said the “MAGA gang desperately [is] trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it”.
We hear he was planning to call out some of these supporters, while clarifying his comments.
It’s unclear exactly which comments were considered inflammatory but sources say the phrase “one of them” has been taken out of context.
Disney felt that if he had doubled down, the company would have been forced make a more drastic decision on Jimmy Kimmel Live’s future instead of the announced preemption, sources said.
The company hopes that it will be able to have Kimmel back on the air “soon”, per sources, but whether Kimmel himself is willing is also unclear.
There will be inevitably more to come, particularly when Kimmel make a statement. It wasn’t a day the executives at Disney relished. “It was a heavy day for everybody,” one insider said.