I’m not sure what ABC or its corporate parent Disney was thinking. They ticked off all their liberals viewers by suspending unfunny late-night propagandist Jimmy Kimmel for spreading misinformation—otherwise known as lying—about the murderer of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. The assassin was MAGA, Kimmel asserted, despite multiple official law enforcement reports saying he was swayed by leftist ideology. Two large broadcasters, Sinclair and Nexstar, were disgusted with the inflammatory rhetoric and urged Disney to take action.
But just when you thought the Mouse Disney had actually done the right thing for a change, they turned around and put Kimmel back on the air; Sinclair and Nexstar soon folded like cheap suits as well. Way to give the finger to everybody on both sides of the political aisle, guys, accomplishing nothing.
But lost in all the liberal shrieking over the First Amendment—even though it was a corporate decision to sideline Kimmel, not a government one—at the heart of the matter is that Kimmel sucks at his job. He’s not funny, and not very many people want to subject themselves to his rants.
As I predicted, his return scored high ratings—and then people quickly remembered why they don’t watch him.
Jimmy and the networks thought he’d be a free speech martyr and that people on the left and right would tune in 10x more out of curiosity but Instead, viewers are tuning out in record numbers.
Turns out, America doesn’t want his bitterness, his hypocrisy, or his tired routine.
Oops!
Although Kimmel can’t be counted on to tell the truth, the numbers don’t lie:
On Thursday, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” averaged 2.3 million total viewers — a staggering 64% drop from the 6.5 million who tuned in for Tuesday’s much-hyped return.
Kimmel shed even more viewers in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, with Thursday’s episode hemorrhaging 73% of viewers from the critical category.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” pulled in 1.7 million viewers among the key demo for Tuesday’s return but plummeted to 465,000 only 48 hours later.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” also lost significant viewers in the younger demographic of adults aged 18-49, managing 1.2 million on Tuesday but quickly losing 73% to settle for only 334,000 on Thursday.