Jimmy Kimmel’s long-running late-night tenure is facing fresh uncertainty, with a new report claiming his time on the air could conclude after nearly 24 years.
Jimmy Kimmel Live is set to come to an end in 2027, according to sources who spoke to Page Six on Tuesday.
The claim comes one year after the 58-year-old comedian made headlines over a high-profile suspension. According to an insider cited by the publication, Kimmel’s current deal is allegedly nearing its endpoint, with the source stating: “His contract is not getting extended.”
The Daily Mail said it has contacted representatives for Kimmel for comment but has not yet received a response.
Kimmel is expected to return to television on Tuesday, while the report claims his final episode could air in May of next year.
However, ABC Entertainment pushed back on the report. In a statement to the Daily Mail, a network spokesperson said: “This information is inaccurate – any reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live is set to come to an end in 2027, according to sources from Page Six on Tuesday. The news comes a year after the 58-year-old comedian was famously suspended, as an insider told the publication: ‘His contract is not getting extended’
Kimmel will be returning to television on Tuesday, while his final episode would reportedly air in May of next year; pictured Saturday in Los Angeles
Page Six’s sources claimed that Kimmel’s years of criticism of President Donald Trump were unlikely to be the cause of his alleged cancellation.
One insider claimed that new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro wouldn’t be influenced by pressure from Trump and his supporters.
‘He’s not afraid of the administration… Josh isn’t folding,’ they claimed.
One source at ABC claimed that a desire to cut costs may have influenced the network to not renew Kimmel’s contract.
‘[I]t wouldn’t have anything to do with Trump,’ they said.
D’Amaro was also said to have been offering early-retirement packages to executives amid restructuring and a push to decrease expenses.
Kimmel has also had a contentious relationship with his network, ABC. On September 17, 2025, the comedian’s show was suspended by ABC and the Walt Disney Company, which owns the network, after he was criticized by conservative figures over comments he made about the murder of right-wing activist and provocateur 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.
Kimmel (seen above in May 2025) was suspended from September 17 to 22 by ABC and its parent the Walt Disney Company over remarks he made about the murder of right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk
According to TMZ , one source claimed that there was chatter among Kimmel’s staff about him allegedly pitching other shows and podcasts around Hollywood; seen above in 2019
His show’s reported end comes after Rosie O’Donnell filled in for him for four nights that were well received by critics and viewers alike
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Shortly before Kimmel’s suspension, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr joined the pile-on by threatening to take action against ABC and independent stations that aired Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Kimmel’s suspension was lifted on September 22 of last year, and his show returned to the air the following day on a triumphant note that attracted an impressive 6.26 million viewers, the most that Kimmel had attracted in more than a decade.
According to TMZ, one source claimed that there was chatter among Kimmel’s staff about him allegedly pitching other shows and podcasts around Hollywood.
Kimmel has notably favored year-to-year contracts with ABC, which are a relative rarity that have offered him considerably more flexibility than other late-night hosts.
His show’s reported end comes after Rosie O’Donnell filled in for him for four nights that were well received by critics and viewers alike.
One source described the comedian and talk show host as ‘in her element’ once she stepped on Kimmel’s set, and O’Donnell managed to get one of her bits to go viral when she poked fun at her longtime nemesis Donald Trump by changing the lyrics of the traditional song Danny Boy to ‘Donnie Boy.’
In April, Kimmel again elicited Trump’s ire when the comedian joked in a sketch that Trump’s wife Melania ‘had a glow like an expectant widow.’
Just days after making the joke, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, and Trump had to be rushed out of the event by Secret Service agents.
Kimmel came under fire in April over a joke in which he said Melania Trump ‘had a glow like an expectant widow’ just days before an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which the Trump attended; seen above in September 2025
Trump later claimed that Kimmel’s joke was a ‘call to violence.’ He accused the joke of being ‘something far beyond the pale’ and wrote that ‘Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC’; seen above on September 2 in Washington, DC
Two days after the assassination attempt, Melania Trump wrote in a post on X that ‘people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.’
‘His monologue about my family isn’t comedy – his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America… How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community,’ she wrote.
On his social media platform, Truth Social, President Trump claimed on the same day that Kimmel’s joke was a ‘call to violence.’
He called the joke ‘something far beyond the pale’ and wrote that ‘Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.’
Kimmel later clarified in his first monologue after the incident that the joke – which he made days before the assassination attempt – poked fun at the 24-year age gap between the Trumps.
He called it ‘a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.’
‘It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination, and they know that. I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular,’ Kimmel continued.
‘I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject; I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it,’ he added, directing the remark at the First Lady.
In August, Disney filed a lawsuit against the FCC over its ‘retaliatory campaign’ against ABC, which included a review of the network’s license and an investigation into The View.