Jimmy Kimmel Live undergoing major change months after suspension

Jimmy Kimmel Live! will reportedly no longer feature nightly musical performances.

The decision comes months after the show was temporarily suspended when affiliate stations decided to boycott it over the host’s comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel — whose show has been running for over 20 years after first airing in 2003 — recently signed a new contract with ABC parent company Disney to remain as host until at least 2027, but new reports suggest that the show’s budget has been tightened.

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the late night show will now only showcase musical acts two nights a week, while Variety’s sources confirmed that while the total number of musical guests will be cut, the number of performances per week will be variable.

The decision comes against a wider backdrop of diminished late night television, including the cancellation of a fan-favorite program.

Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show – the most-watched late-night program on U.S. broadcast television – is set to end in May and will not be replaced, due to what network CBS has insisted was a “financial decision.”

When the cancellation was announced, Kimmel shared an Instagram Story with the message, “Love you Stephen,” while also using some choice words in a separate note to CBS.

“F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS,” Kimmel wrote.

Kimmel, meanwhile, won the best talk show prize at the January 4 Critics Choice Awards. He used his acceptance speech to “thank” President Donald Trump for the “many ridiculous things you do each and every day.”

When Kimmel’s show was suspended in September, the president called the suspension “Great News for America” and blasted the show for being “ratings challenged” before ABC reinstated it.

Later, Trump said Kimmel had “ZERO talent” and called to “get the bum off the air.”

The talk show host had begun his acceptance speech by joking that the “FIFA Peace Prize would have been better, but this is nice too,” referring to the football association’s newly created Peace Prize that Trump was awarded at the 2026 World Cup draw.

“I really didn’t expect this,” said Kimmel, drawing laughs as he unrolled a theatrically long sheet of paper with his acceptance speech. He thanked the critics for the award as well as “our friends at Disney,” CEO Bob Iger and entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden.

He also thanked OpenAI boss Sam Altman, who Kimmel said “now owns my voice and face. Please don’t do anything weird with it.”

The comment likely referred to a deal between Disney and OpenAI announced in December in which the entertainment giant agreed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and license more than 200 of its iconic characters from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars heroes for use on OpenAI’s generative AI video app Sora.