When ABC executives informed Jimmy Kimmel last month that his broadcast was cut, the evening show had already sat down, a guest chef had begun to cook, the musician had a warm up and Kimmel was in the bathroom.

“It was about 3:00. We would turn our show at 4:30, “Kimmel told Steven Colbert in an episode of” The Late Show “on Tuesday. “I’m in my desk, I type as usual. They call me. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual: as far as I knew, they didn’t even know that I was doing some show before that. “

Kimmel said that at that time he had five writers in his office and the only private place where he could answer the call was the toilet.

“So I go to the toilet and talk to the phone with ABC executives and they say to me,” Listen, we want to reduce the intensity. We are worried about what you will say tonight and we decided that the best solution is to stop the show. “

The audience condemned this decision, and Kimmel jumped: “That’s exactly what I said: I began to disappoint.”

“I said,” I don’t think it’s a good idea “and they replied,” Well, we think it’s a good idea. ” Then there was a vote and I lost the vote. “

Kimmel said he called some of the show’s executive producers to his office to announce the news.

“I thought, that’s all. It’s over, it’s over. I thought I would never go back to the air. “

Kimmel said the show had to send the audience already sitting in the studio at home. The meatballs and the Polanda prepared by chef Christian Petroni, who cooked before the shoot, went lost. However, the future musician invited Howard Jones turned a song for a future episode entitled: “Things can only be better”, which Kimmel said that only as an ironic one could get it.

ABC suspended Kimmel’s mid -September show for a few days after the controversial monologue he made during his broadcast on Charlie Kerk. Two days later, the chairman of the Federal Communications Committee on a conservative podcast threatened to withdraw the broadcasts of ABC’s subsidiaries in response. Then Nexstar – the station that broadcasts “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He announced that he would not broadcast the show. Another female, Sinclair, followed the example. Hours later, Kimmel received the ABC executives’ phone call to the toilet.

Eventually, Kimmel returned to the air with a moving monologue and huge television viewing.

Steven Colbert, a presenter of “The Late Show” who was also invited to Jimmy Kimmel’s show on the day he returned, described his own experience when his ABC announced last summer that his broadcast was being cut. Colbert said he could sympathize with Kimmel after he learned about the end of his own broadcast when he was on vacation. However, Colbert’s broadcast will continue to air until spring 2026.

Both Colbert and Kimmel have been frequent and overt critics of President Donald Trump and his government. Trump even publicly celebrated when Colbert’s broadcast was canceled with a post on social media. She was also happy when Kimmel’s broadcast was cut.