Comedian Jimmy Kimmel has signed a one-year contract extension with ABC, ensuring the continuity of Jimmy Kimmel Live! until 2027, after his show was temporarily suspended last September amid pressure from the White House, US media confirmed.
The extension of Kimmel’s contract, as cited by the trade publicationĀ Hollywood Reporter, comes after ABC, a Disney subsidiary, abruptly suspended ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on September 17, after the host criticizedĀ President Donald Trump‘s administration’s response to the murder of ultra-conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ChairmanĀ Brendan Carr, a close ally of Trump, hadĀ threatened to revoke ABC affiliates’ licenses if the network did not punish Kimmel.
Jimmy Kimmel blasts Trump in fiery Colbert interview
The suspension of the program unleashed a wave of criticism and concern for freedom of expression in the country. ABC reinstated the comedian on September 23, a week later, and his return achieved an audience of 6.3 million viewers, the highest figure in ten years.
In his controversial monologue, Kimmel satirized Trump’s MAGA political movement by stating that they had done “the impossible to show the guy who killed Charlie Kirk as if he was not one of them and, incidentally, took the opportunity to take political advantage.”The controversy boosted the comedian’s popularity, which according to a YouGov and The Economist poll, put him 4 percentage points ahead of the US president last October.
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