ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is experiencing a stunning ratings crash just days after the host’s return from suspension.
The figures confirm that viewers are abandoning the late-night comedian in droves.
Disney briefly suspended Kimmel after he falsely suggested that the alleged assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was part of the “MAGA gang.”
Despite widespread backlash, Disney reversed course and put him back on the air last Tuesday.
Kimmel’s comeback episode drew heavy attention, pulling in 6.5 million viewers.
But the surge proved fleeting.
By Thursday, his audience had collapsed to just 2.3 million, marking a staggering 64% drop in total viewership.
The numbers were even worse in key demographics.
Among adults aged 25–54, the most coveted advertising group, Kimmel shed 73% of viewers, plunging from 1.7 million on Tuesday to only 465,000 on Thursday.
In the 18–49 demographic, he lost the same share, falling from 1.2 million to 334,000.
The Backlash
The controversy began earlier this month when Kimmel falsely linked 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the radical leftist charged in Kirk’s assassination, to Trump supporters.
“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 told his audience.
Authorities confirmed in the indictment that Robinson held far-left views, making Kimmel’s claim baseless and deceitful.
The comments triggered outrage from conservatives and scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Broadcasters Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group quickly pulled the show from their stations, and Disney suspended Kimmel after he reportedly told executives he would not apologize.
He returned less than a week later with a passionate monologue but stopped short of issuing a full apology.
Nexstar and Sinclair only resumed airing the show that Friday.
Long-Term Decline
Kimmel’s short-lived spike comes against a backdrop of years of declining ratings.
Once averaging 2.4 million nightly viewers in 2015, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has steadily lost audience share year after year as the host has increasingly pushed left-wing politics over entertainment.
The shows pulled 2.2 million viewers in 2016 and 2017, falling to 2.1 million in 2018, 1.9 million in 2019, and 1.8 million in 2020.
By 2021, his average was just 1.5 million.
In 2025, Disney suspended Kimmel amid an average of 1.6 million, down 37% from 2015 levels.
Turning Point USA Responds
Kirk’s supporters blasted Kimmel’s return speech as a non-apology that failed to take responsibility.
“Kimmel is an unrepentant liar who tried to blame Charlie’s assassination on the part of the country that just spent the last 2 weeks praying and holding vigils,” Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said.
For Disney and ABC, the numbers suggest the suspension debacle, coupled with Kimmel’s refusal to walk back his comments, may have permanently damaged the late-night program.
READ MORE – Kamala Harris: Kimmel Was Suspended Because Trump ‘Couldn’t Take a Joke’
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