In a podcast interview yesterday, Jimmy Kimmel revealed that early on, ABC asked him to tone down the Trump jokes. They said they were worried about losing Republican viewers. Via Decider:
Kimmel confirmed that losing Republican viewers was a worry of ABC’s, telling Rosenthal, “There was at one time, maybe, I don’t know, right around the beginning of this whole Trump thing where … that was kind of hinted at, but I just said, ‘Listen, I get it. I don’t disagree. I mean, you’re right.”
[...] “I just said, if that’s what you want to do, I understand and I don’t begrudge you for it, but I’m not going to do that,” Kimmel said. “So if you want somebody else to host the show, then that’s fine. That’s OK with me. I’m just not going to do it like that.”
The late night host said ABC didn’t push back and met his request with an “all right,” telling the podcast, “They knew I was serious. I just couldn’t live with myself.”
I can think of at least one other late night host who probably got a similar message -- and laid off on Trump.
