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ABC is pushing back against a report that Jimmy Kimmel's late-night tenure is coming to an end.On Sept. 8, Page Six reported that this season of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will be its last. The 58-year-old host previously renewed his contract through May 2027.The network swiftly responded, with an ABC Entertainment spokesperson telling USA TODAY, "This information is inaccurate – any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative."The report was published hours before the show returns for its 25th season. The premiere will feature appearances from actors Andrew Garfield and Joey King.Report comes on the day of Jimmy Kimmel's return from breakKimmel was recently on a summer break from July through August, leaving his show in the hands of longtime sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez and a rotating cast of guest hosts that included Rosie O'Donnell, Colman Domingo, Jelly Roll, Anthony Anderson, Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz."Jimmy Kimmel Live" is up for six trophies at the upcoming Emmy Awards, which will air Sept. 14.The comedian, who was 35 at the time, made his "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" debut on Jan. 26, 2003.In the decades since, his show has become known for its man-on-the-street Hollywood Boulevard interviews, its since-retired "Mean Tweets" segment featuring celebrities, a long-running mock feud between Kimmel and Matt Damon and a former Halloween tradition of parents pranking their children by saying they ate all the candy.Jimmy Kimmel's history with Donald TrumpKimmel's more than two decades in late night have been characterized by numerous spats with President Donald Trump, who has called for the host to be pulled off the air multiple times.The show wove this years-long contentious relationship into its 2026 Emmys campaign and shared a video compilation of the various insults the president has hurled at Kimmel.In April, Melania Trump and President Trump both denounced Kimmel for joking that the first lady had "a glow like an expectant widow" days before a man allegedly opened fire inside the Washington Hilton hotel as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner took place. The suspect faces multiple charges, including of attempting to assassinate the president.While accepting a Peabody Award for his late-night work in May, Kimmel doubled down on the right to free speech."We have the right, guaranteed by the Constitution, to criticize and satirize our leaders. This is a right that many of us take for granted," he said on stage. "It's one that I took for granted the first 57 years of my life, until September of last year when the FCC delivered a very unpleasant surprise."He continued, "But then I experienced something that surprised me even more. I watched as millions of people, even some from across the aisle, objected. They spoke up. They marched. They canceled their subscriptions to 'Star Wars' because they refused to allow our freedoms to be bulldozed like the East Wing of the White House."Why was 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' suspended?One of the biggest controversies the show faced came in September 2025, when Disney-owned ABC announced "Jimmy Kimmel Live" would halt production after the Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr sharply criticized comments Kimmel made in his Sept. 15 monologue about the reactions to Charlie Kirk's killing.Kimmel said that the "MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize" the suspect charged with killing Kirk "as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it." As a result, ABC suspended his show for nearly a week to "avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country." The Sept. 22 statement added that parent company Disney made the decision "because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive."Upon returning from his suspension Sept. 23, the comedian addressed his remarks about Kirk's death, saying in an emotional monologue that it was "never my intention to make light" of his killing.
