Jimmy Kimmel Reveals He Was in the Bathroom When ABC Told Him the Show Was Being Pulled from Air: ‘I Thought, It’s Over’

Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert addressed the recent late-night shakeup on television.

One week after Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned from its indefinite hiatus, Kimmel discussed the suspension during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

“It was about 3 o’clock, we tape our show at 4:30,” Kimmel said. “I’m in my office typing away, I get a phone call. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual. As far as I knew, they didn’t even know I was doing a show prior to this.”

With no privacy in his office, Kimmel took the call in the bathroom. “They say, ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.'”

As Colbert’s audience booed, Kimmel quipped, “That’s what I said! I started booing.” He told ABC executives he disagreed, but admitted, “There was a vote and I lost the vote.”

Kimmel recalled breaking the news to his team. “I called in some of the executive producers. There were about nine people in there. I said, ‘They’re pulling the show off the air.’ My wife said I was whiter than Jim Gaffigan when I came out of there.”

He admitted he thought his career was over. “I was like, I’m never coming back on the air. That’s really what I thought,” he told Colbert. Meanwhile, his live audience was already seated — and so were that night’s guests. Chef Christian Petroni had prepared meatballs and polenta for the taping, and Howard Jones had filmed a performance of “Things Can Only Get Better,” which Kimmel joked felt ironic after the audience was sent home.

The interview followed Kimmel’s suspension earlier in September, which an ABC spokesperson had confirmed would last “indefinitely.” The decision came after remarks in Kimmel’s Sept. 15 monologue, where he criticized attempts by the “MAGA gang” to spin the assassination of Charlie Kirk for political gain.

During that segment, Kimmel acknowledged the White House’s decision to lower flags to half-staff and played footage of President Donald Trump responding to questions about Kirk’s death. While Trump briefly reflected, he also pivoted to discussing construction of a new White House ballroom. Kimmel remarked, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief — construction.”

Kimmel had previously shared condolences to Kirk’s family on social media, urging unity and compassion: “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?”

The decision to sideline Jimmy Kimmel Live! also coincided with Nexstar Media’s announcement that it would acquire rival broadcaster Tegna for $6.2 billion, a deal requiring approval from the Trump-controlled FCC.

The suspension sparked backlash across Hollywood, with over 400 celebrities signing a letter defending Kimmel’s free speech rights. Fellow hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Howard Stern, and the co-hosts of The View also voiced support.

While ABC initially paused the show, both Sinclair and Nexstar later announced they would stop preempting Kimmel’s program on their affiliate stations. The late-night series has since resumed airing nationwide.

Meanwhile, Colbert’s own show will end in May 2026. CBS announced in July that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would conclude after 10 seasons, describing the move as a financial decision unrelated to ratings or content.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.