Late-night show host and “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel openly and proudly admitted that he may have lost half of his audience over his anti-Trump content during a podcast appearance Wednesday.
Kimmel explained to “Naked Lunch” podcast host and “Everybody Loves Raymond” creator Phil Rosenthal that had he dropped the topic he “couldn’t live” with himself.
“Does ABC ever say to you, ‘Hey, could you not just attack this side and lay off a little bit? Cause we are gonna lose those people?’” asked Rosenthal, noting that Kimmel’s hatred also extended to Republicans aside from Trump.
“There was at one time, maybe, I don’t know, like right around the beginning of this whole like Trump thing where — ” Kimmel began, before Rosenthal interrupted.
“This is now eight years ago?” he asked.
“Yeah. Something like that. Maybe not quite that long ago that that was like kind of hinted at. But I just said, ‘Listen, I get it. I mean, I don’t disagree. I mean, you’re right. I have lost half of my fans — maybe more than that,’” answered Kimmel.
The late-night show host then explained that he continued to push these views despite having a high number of Republican fans before adding that he would have walked off the show had ABC not accepted it.
“And I get it, if that’s what they want to do, I just said, ‘Listen, if that’s what you wanna do, I understand and I don’t begrudge you for it, but I’m not going to do that. So, you know, if you want somebody else to host the show, then that’s fine. That’s okay with me. I’m just not gonna do it like that,’” he explained, adding that ABC ultimately allowed him to push his leftist worldview.
“They knew I was serious. I mean, you know … I couldn’t live with myself,” he said.
The late-night show host has been known to belittle Americans before, infamously posting a PSA in which a group of what he called ‘doctors’ belittled citizens who are hesitant about taking a Covid-19 inoculation.
If you’re on the fence about the COVID vaccine maybe you should listen to… DOCTORS!? pic.twitter.com/vGKYfuwjWj
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) May 5, 2021
Kimmel drew criticism more recently after he played dead in what appeared to be a strange attempt at a comedy bit during a writer’s Emmy acceptance speech in September.
Rosenthal gushed over Kimmel’s story, telling the man his political activism on the air amounts to a “public service.”
“You’re the guys who make us feel like we’re not alone,” Rosenthal declared.
“You know, I love this country, too,” Kimmel said, alleging that he didn’t see it as a public service so much as a personal duty. “I mean, you know, that flag doesn’t belong to them. This is ours. And when I see somebody coming in and ruining it, I’m gonna say something about it. That’s it. That’s as simple as that.”
