The Jimmy Kimmel Controversy

Numerous hosts of late-night shows, such as Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and even former host David Letterman, have all been critical of ABC’s decision to indefinitely put Jimmy Kimmel on hiatus. The move follows his questionable comments about the murder of right-wing activist, Charlie Kirk.

Due to space requirements, I won’t repeat all of their comments, but they generally referred to free speech and/or Trump’s alleged suppression of such speech. Jon Stewart was quoted as saying, “Read your Constitution!” to a round of applause.

I have! Many times over. Read it closely. While the First Amendment gives everyone, including the press, the right to free speech, it does not give one the right to use a format that isn't owned by said person. When I signed up with Hostinger to develop the webpage you’re reading right now, I had to agree to follow their guidelines. You do the same thing when you sign up for Facebook, X, your banking app, etc. Read the terms of service!

If the hosts of those shows want the guarantee of saying whatever controversial thing pops into their brain, they need to start their own production/media outlet company, and send it over the free air waves - which also requires an FCC permit to avoid hundreds of people using the exact same frequency at the exact same time. They could even start their own magazine if they want. No permit required.

Virtually everyone is guilty of saying things that would be better left unsaid, even making empty threats at times. Trump, who often seems to lack a filter, has often threatened and insulted numerous people. Sadly, that''s his style. As president, though, his threats need to taken somewhat seriously. Entities shouldn't have to cower wondering what will happen if their decisions aren't liked by the head Overlord.

But let’s get to the real reason these hosts are getting dumped. It boils down to two issues – lack of ratings... and lack of advertising dollars.

At their peak, in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno (who superseded him), and David Letterman were pulling in audiences of more than 10 million viewers - each. In the second quarter of this year, Colbert, who leads the pack, averaged just 2.4 million viewers, and Kimmel 1.8 million. In addition, the target audience of 19-49 year-old viewers only made up a fifth of the overall audience. That sounds like bad management. In addition, advertiser spending on late-night shows across ABC, CBS, and NBC dropped by about half since 2018, from $439 to $221 million in 2024. One of the shows was even losing money.

Granted, part of this is due to more competition, but let’s face the inevitable. Late night shows on major networks are dying just like Saturday morning cartoons died decades ago. In my opinion, it’s because talk shows' skits gave up being funny… for being politically insulting. What do you think?

Thank you for reading!

Sources used: Guardian and Business Insider