Following Jimmy Kimmel‘s suspension drama, Jimmy Fallon opened up about his late-night show will move forward with its political commentary.
“Our show’s never really been that political. We hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh, and that’s really the way our show works,” Fallon shared during a Tuesday, September 30, appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street. “Our monologues are kind of the same that we’ve been doing since Johnny Carson was doing The Tonight Show.”
Fallon continued, “So really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, clever, smart writers. And we’re just trying to make the best show we possibly can and entertain everybody.”
Last month, Disney suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! after multiple companies pulled the show from local affiliates in reaction to Kimmel’s comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on September 16.
Many fans criticized the decision for being an attack against free speech by President Donald Trump‘s administration. The show returned from its six-day suspension on September 23, during which clarified it was not his “intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
Kimmel also clapped back at Trump, who slammed the show’s return via social media. “He did his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show,” he joked. “That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this now.”
Fallon previously faced his own backlash from Trump, who suggested in a September 17 Truth Social post that he and Seth Meyers should be the next late-night hosts to be pulled from the air. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” he wrote.
Fallon vocalized his support for Kimmel following his suspension news. “I don’t know what’s going on and no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s a decent, loving, and funny guy. And I hope he comes back,” he said on the September 18 episode of The Tonight Show.
Fallon later addressed Kimmel’s return to TV at the top of The Tonight Show‘s September 23 episode, joking, “If you’re tuning in to see what I’ll say about my suspension the last couple of days, again, you’re watching the wrong Jimmy,” he joked. “Dad! The other Jimmy, Dad!”
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Weeknights, 11:35/10:35c, NBC
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