Disney exec fuels speculation on Jimmy Kimmel Live cancellation…
Disney president Dana Walden did little or no to quell a latest Page Six report that Jimmy Kimmel Live might be coming to an end next 12 months.
The 61-year-old govt – who was named as the Mouse House’s president and chief inventive officer again in February – supplied her first public comments on Kimmel’s future at Bloomberg’s Screentime convention in Los Angeles on Thursday.
While she didn’t affirm nor deny the report, she wouldn’t definitively say whether or not the 58-year-old speak present host can be again on ABC after his contract is up in May 2027.
Disney president Dana Walden did little or no to quell a latest Page Six report that Jimmy Kimmel Live might be coming to an end next 12 months. AFP through Getty Images
Kimmel himself hasn’t publicly responded to the report, though he has hinted about the end of the present a few years earlier. Disney through Getty Images
“It’s a very challenging daypart, late-night. That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television,” Walden started.
“Obviously, there’s a YouTube channel. Millions of people are watching, on demand, parts of that show. That is not a lucrative opportunity for a very premium talk show, so we’re trying to make sense of the business while also honoring a deep partnership,” she added.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube does boast 22.3 million followers, with one in every of the movies from Wednesday evening’s episode filmed in Brooklyn – that includes Robert De Niro – already incomes 3.5 million views in less than 24 hours.
Walden added, “I love Jimmy. We have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney, and again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both.”
“What does Jimmy want? What’s the right thing to do, and what’s the right thing for our business?” she concluded.
The Page Six report was printed just hours before Jimmy Kimmel Live kicked off its twenty fourth season on ABC, with a source revealing this season can be its last.
“I love Jimmy. We have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney, and again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both.” AFP through Getty Images
“His contract is not getting extended,” a source revealed, though ABC rapidly launched a press release claiming the, “information is inaccurate.”
“Any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative,” the network’s temporary assertion concluded.
Kimmel himself hasn’t publicly responded to the report, though he did trace about the end of the present a few years earlier.
Back in February 2024 – when his contract was set to run out in May 2026 – Kimmel revealed to The Los Angeles Times that the contract could also be his last.
“I think this is my final contract, I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case,” Kimmel said at the time.
He added, “I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good, that seems like enough.”
“It’s a very challenging daypart, late-night. That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television.” AFP through Getty Images
Still, Kimmel finally added another 12 months to his contract again in December 2025, which got here months after his present was suspended over his controversial comments about the homicide of Charlie Kirk.
It also got here just a month after his longtime bandleader and childhood good friend — Cleto Escobedo III — handed away at just 59 from cardiogenic shock, following issues from a liver transplant.
Jimmy Kimmel Live continues its week of reveals filmed from Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House.
He welcomes John Oliver, Seth Meyers and Robby Hoffman on Thursday, with Paul McCartney and Senator Bernie Sanders closing out the week on Friday.
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