Donald Trump hits out at the return of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’: “We’re going to test ABC out on this”

Donald Trump reacted to Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s return last night (September 23) by saying that ABC told the White House that the show had been cancelled.

The US President took to his Truth Social platform about an hour before the show returned to the network after its suspension to slam the move, and seemingly hint at potential legal action.

“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” he wrote. “The White House was told by ABC that his show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there.

“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”

He then added, seemingly referring to the network settling his lawsuit over comments made by This Week host George Stephanopoulos in 2024: “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16million dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad ratings.”

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In March 2024, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit in Florida against ABC News and Stephanopolous. That December, they settled the lawsuit, paying $15million to Trump’s presidential library as a charitable contribution and $1million for Trump’s legal fees, as well as issuing a public apology to the president.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended on September 17 following comments Kimmel made relating to the murder of Charlie Kirk two nights before, before ABC’s parent company Disney announced on September 22 that it would return the following night.

Two conservative affiliates of ABC, Sinclair and Nexstar, said they would continue not to air the show, and many of Trump’s allies and supporters reacted with anger at the news of its return.

In his opening night monologue last night, Kimmel said it was “never my intention” to make light of Kirk’s death, but that “our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television,” adding that Trump “did his best” to cancel him.

He also acknowledged a clip of Trump saying the show has no ratings, remarking, “I do tonight.”

The backlash to Kimmel’s cancellation worked itself into Trump’s speech at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday (September 21), where he once again took aim at his political opponents on the “radical left” and addressed the reaction to the show being axed.

“The same commentators who this week are screaming fascism over a cancelled late-night TV show, where the anchor had no talent and no ratings, last week were implying that Charlie Kirk deserved what happened to him,” he said.

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