The late night TV space has seen some major shakeups over the last few months. First, CBS announced in July it was cancelling The Late Show. It was a decision that, while attributed to financial reasons, came shortly after host Stephen Colbert criticized Paramount for settling its $16 million lawsuit with President Donald Trump, all as the company was trying to close its merger with Skydance. Then earlier this week, ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the 2025 TV schedule after the title host made controversial comments in reference to Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter of Charlie Kirk. Now Conan O’Brien has opened up about his the silencing of his former late night cohorts.
Conan O’Brien was a late night talk show host for nearly 30 years, first on Late Night, then with his short-lived stint on The Tonight Show, and finally with Conan on TBS for over a decade. These days O’Brien is keeping busy with projects like his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and his HBO Max subscription-exclusive travel show Conan O’Brien Must Go, but today he went on Instagram to comment on what’s been happening with late night TV recently, writing:
His talk show hosting days are long behind them, but the above statement shows that Conan O’Brien is all too willing to offer his support to those still working in the field and express concern about the larger implications of these decisions. In Jimmy Kimmel’s case in particular, he’s the latest celebrity to react publicly to his show going on “indefinite” hiatus, with others including Ben Stiller, Wanda Sykes and Tatiana Maslany (who’s calling for people to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions, as ABC is owned by Disney). In addition to what’s happened with Kimmel and Colbert, President Trump has also taken aim at The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and Late Night host Seth Meyers, describing them in a TruthSocial post as “two total losers” with “horrible” ratings on NBC.
The shocking development with Jimmy Kimmel came just one day after Stephen Colbert thanked Kimmel for doing him a solid favor ahead of him winning the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series. Colbert has since commented on The Late Show about Kimmel’s suspension, as did Jimmy Fallon and The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart in their monologues. Per the latest reporting, some Disney senior executives allegedly surprised when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken off the air because they’d recommended that CEO Bob Iger not take that course of action.
Talks are reportedly underway to determine what to do with Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but this complicated turn of events clearly isn’t going to be resolved easily. Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert will continue hosting The Late Show until May 2026, and Conan O’Brien Must Go was renewed for a third season in March.