Jimmy Kimmel has shared his daughter’s reaction after his show was suspended.
ABC took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air from September 17 through September 22, 2025 as a result of comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk, a controversial right-wing political activist.
It was unclear whether Kimmel, who has hosted the show for 22 years, would ever return to the schedule. President Donald Trump took to social media during this period to celebrate ABC’s decision.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done," he wrote. "Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.
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"That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT."
Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar's broadcasting division, which is affiliated with ABC, slammed Kimmel for his comments, telling PEOPLE in a statement: "Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.
“Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
However, the decision has also been met with backlash from various celebrities.
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Kimmel’s wife and children also supported the late-night show host, and his daughter offered an adorable solution.
Molly McNearney, Kimmel’s wife who also serves as the co-head writer and executive producer of the ABC show, discussed Kimmel’s suspension on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast.
She recalled coming home to their kids Jane and Billy on the first day of the suspension, and tried to act as normal by asking them about school. “Meanwhile, our phones are [going] buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz the whole time in our pockets, and there’s helicopters over our house,” she recalled.
Kimmel the told the children, “My show has been suspended,” and, according to McNearney, “Our daughter immediately burst into tears. And she said, ‘I’ll sell my Labubus.'”
Meanwhile, the couple’s son Billy asked if “the president had done this,” and both she and Kimmel replied, “Yes.”
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Kimmel’s suspension was eventually lifted on September 22, with the show returning to the air the following night.
In his first opening dialogue after returning to the screen, Kimmel didn’t shy away from addressing the president.
Speaking about Trump, he said: “You almost have to feel sorry for him, he tried his best to cancel me and instead he forced millions of people to watch the show.”
Kimmel continued: “The president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.
“One thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern, is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.”