After years of mocking, smearing, and sneering at President Donald Trump, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is now suddenly saying he’d “love” to have Trump back on his struggling ABC show — the same show that was briefly yanked off the air after Kimmel made vile comments linking conservatives to violence.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference on Wednesday, Kimmel said, “I’d love to have Trump on the show, for sure,” before joking that he’d “ask him.” The comment came just weeks after *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* was suspended for nearly a week, following Kimmel’s outrageous insinuation that the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a MAGA supporter.
The move was met with widespread backlash — and cheers from conservatives who have long accused Kimmel of turning his once-funny late-night program into a soapbox for left-wing politics.
President Trump didn’t hold back. Taking to Truth Social, he celebrated the rare moment of accountability for a Hollywood liberal.
“Great News for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” Trump wrote. “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent and worse ratings than even Colbert — if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!”
Unfortunately for viewers who prefer actual comedy over political preaching, ABC brought Kimmel back less than a week later.
Now, in a bizarre twist, Kimmel — who has spent years mocking Trump nightly — claims he would “welcome” the 45th president back to his set. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone. For years, Kimmel has positioned himself as Hollywood’s moral authority, ridiculing Trump voters as ignorant, hateful, or uneducated. But with ratings in freefall, the late-night host seems eager to court the very man he built his career attacking.
Kimmel admitted that Trump “gives us a lot to use,” calling him “the most accessible” of all presidents — a backhanded compliment from a man who’s made a living off Trump’s every move.
President Trump, meanwhile, has made it clear that he views Kimmel as little more than a partisan mouthpiece. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person,” Trump told reporters. “He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago. You can call that free speech or not — he was fired for lack of talent.”
The controversy also drew attention from the FCC after Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel’s conduct, saying, “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
The White House denied any involvement in Kimmel’s suspension, but insiders say his declining audience numbers — and his increasingly unhinged political rants — were already raising alarms at ABC.
Since returning to air, Kimmel has continued his anti-Trump tirades, portraying himself as a martyr for “free speech.” Yet even he admitted there was a moment when he thought the show was done for good. “I hope we drew a really bold, red line about what we as Americans will and will not accept,” Kimmel said.
If that “red line” includes finally holding Hollywood elites accountable for their hypocrisy, maybe he’s onto something. But for now, Kimmel’s desperate plea to bring Trump on his sinking show sounds less like confidence — and more like a last-ditch ratings stunt.
