Amid the shocking suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, Daily Mail is taking a look back at some of the late night host’s most controversial moments.
The network on Wednesday said that ABC affiliates were going to pre-empt Kimmel‘s late night program, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a night after he made divisive remarks about the slaying of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Nexstar broadcasting division president Andrew Alford was critical of Kimmel’s remarks in a statement issued Wednesday.
‘Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,’ Alford said, ‘and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.’
Kimmel, 57, has been outspoken about his left-leaning beliefs in recent years and a regular critic of President Donald Trump.
Daily Mail has reached out for comment to Kimmel’s publicist.
Kimmel broached on the touchy topic Tuesday as he took a different spin on the fallout of Kirk’s assassination on a Utah college campus at the hands of a 22-year-old suspect.
‘We hit some new lows over the weekend,’ Kimmel said, ‘with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them – and doing everything they can to score political points from it.’
Amid the shocking suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, 57, on Wednesday, Daily Mail is taking a look back at some of the late night host’s most controversial moments. Pictured in June
Post election meltdown
Kimmel’s political views were on naked display on the November 6, 2024 edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live, in the wake of President Trump’s victory over Democratic challenger Kamala Harris.
‘It was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard working immigrants who make this country go, for health care, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech,’ the comedian told the audience.
He continued: ‘It was a terrible night for poor people, for the middle class, for seniors who rely on Social Security, for our allies in Ukraine, for NATO and democracy and decency.
‘And it was a terrible night for everyone who voted against him. And guess what? It was a bad night for everyone who voted for him too. You just don’t realize it yet.’
The emotional host wrapped up in declaring that ‘it was a really good night for Putin and for polio and for lovable billionaires like Elon Musk, and the bros up in Silicon Valley.
‘And all the wriggling brain worms who sold what was left of their souls to bow down to Donald Trump.’
Nexstar broadcasting division president Andrew Alford was critical of Kimmel’s remarks in a statement issued Wednesday
The broadcasting exec said that Kimmel’s ‘comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.’ Kirk pictured prior to his tragic killing September 10 on the Utah Valley University campus
Mean Streak
Kimmel showed he can ad-lib – and go low – with the best of them during a March 2010 interview with Sabrina the Teenage Witch actress Melissa Joan Hart.
The chat was on his show after Hart, a sitcom star in the 1990s, was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars.
Kimmel asked Hart: ‘At any point during the competition, did you consider using witchcraft to help you?’
Hart replied, ‘Ah, whoa hold on – that joke is like, 1996.’
Kimmel replied, ‘Yeah, but you know what? So are you to be honest,’ later joking he was an ‘evil’ person.
A response penned on a Reddit r/videos thread about the exchange read, ‘You know the comeback is brutal when you laugh but also feel genuinely sorry for her.’
Another user commented: ‘Yep, it seems like this was a little bit of a misstep on Jimmy’s part.
‘I don’t know for sure but I get the impression that most of these guys are trying to be funny without being d***s, and that comment was a little across the line. Oh well, mistakes get made, you move past it.’
Kimmel humiliated Sabrina the Teenage Witch star Melissa Joan Hart on his show 15 years ago with a razor-sharp jab about her diminished fame
Kimmel showed his mean streak a few months earlier in January of 2010 when he got directly involved in the late night imbroglio going on at rival network NBC, during their criticized plans to replace a ratings-challenged Conan O’Brien with Jay Leno
No love for Leno
Kimmel showed his mean streak a few months earlier in January of 2010 when he got directly involved in the late night imbroglio going on at rival network NBC, during their criticized plans to replace a ratings-challenged Conan O’Brien with Jay Leno.
Kimmel accepted an invited into Jay Leno’s maligned 10 p.m. show and took part in a sketch called 10 at 10, ambushing Leno with a series of cutting questions related to The Tonight Show controversies.
When Leno asked him about the best prank he ever pulled, Kimmel responded, ‘I told a guy that five years from now I’m going to give you my show, and then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly.’
Leno, who was fighting a publicity crisis as he was returning to the Tonight Show to replace the be beloved O’Brien, brought up the incident in an April appearance on In Depth With Graham Bensinger.
‘When Kimmel came on my show and humiliated me on my own show, I let it happen,’ Leno said. ‘I didn’t edit it. It was my mistake, I trusted somebody. I went, “Ah, I made a mistake – Okay, I should pay the price.”‘
Leno continued: ‘And it’s fine, it’s fine. I mean, we could’ve edited it out of the show … it’s real – it happened, it’s my mistake – that’s how you learn.’
Like his mentor Howard Stern, Kimmel had a trove of politically-incorrect material he used to establish his name before hitting the mainstream with ABC more than 20 years ago
Kimmel donned blackface while on his former Comedy Central series, The Man Show, which he starred on alongside Adam Carolla between 1999 and 2003
The jokes Jimmy didn’t want you to hear
Like his mentor Howard Stern, Kimmel had a trove of politically-incorrect material he used to establish his name before hitting the mainstream with ABC more than 20 years ago.
In 1996, Kimmel use the N-word in a Christmas song parody Made for the KROQ disc jockey team of Kevin and Bean, A Family Christmas in Your A**.
Pretending to be Snoop Dogg, Kimmel rapped the lines ‘fat [N-word] in a sleigh, giving s***s away’; as well as ‘me and my [N-word] down in LBC, we’ll smoke that m*********n’ Christmas tree.’
On the album, Kimmel was given co-producer credits as Jim Kimmel, and credited with writing comedy material on it.
More infamously, Kimmel donned blackface while on his former Comedy Central series, The Man Show, which he starred on alongside Adam Carolla between 1999 and 2003.
In one sketch Kimmel imitated NBA legend Karl Malone with his face painted black.
Amid his evolution to comedy’s wokest warrior, Kimmel had to address his past material and issue an official apology about his ’embarrassing’ stabs at comed and ‘thoughtless moments’ he let make it to the air.
‘There is nothing more important to me than your respect,’ Kimmel said in a statement. ‘And I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke.’
