Jimmy Kimmel explained why he isn’t “affected” by Donald Trump’s obsession with him.
Kimmel, 58, and his wife, Jimmy Kimmel Live co-head writer and executive producer Molly McNearney, 48, appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where the host reflected on the effects of being consistently taunted by the president.
“I let it roll off my back much more than I ever had,” Kimmel said on the show. “The older I get, the less affected I am by that.”
While McNearney admitted, “I’m much more affected,” Kimmel said part of it is that he’s “not as connected to what people are saying.” But there’s also an even bigger reason.
“Before I did this job and even before I was on television, I was in a very stressful job as a radio disc jockey, getting fired from town to town to town,” he explained. “And I’ve become hardened in some ways. And also, at that time, when I lost my job, I was in deep financial trouble. I couldn’t miss one paycheck. It was a problem if—and I do try to remember that—I go, ‘OK, if I don’t have this job, we’re going to be OK.’ I don’t have to worry about that. And I do take some solace and comfort in that.”
Trump has called for Kimmel to be fired by ABC multiple times, and nearly got his way when the host was suspended from the network indefinitely in September, following comments he made during a monologue about MAGA’s reaction to the death of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk.
Trump’s FCC threatened the host just before ABC made the decision to pull Kimmel from the airwaves, and Trump gloated on Truth Social, writing, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
He added, “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.” Colbert’s show was canceled ahead of Trump-friendly company Skydance’s acquisition of his CBS show’s parent network, Paramount, last August.
Kimmel and McNearney reflected on the immediate aftermath of the suspension on the Monday episode. “There were like 15 black SUVs following us home,” Kimmel recalled, “including the local NBC affiliate, which I found, for whatever reason, that really p---ed me off.” Kimmel ultimately returned to air after just six days, marking the triumph with a viral monologue and later, continuously “unparalleled” ratings.
Still, the president never stopped trying to get the host off the air permanently. The first lady joined Trump’s calls for Kimmel’s show to be canceled following a joke he made about the couple’s age gap ahead of the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April.
Kimmel contrasted his Trump feud with his early money troubles on Monday: “Now, yeah, it wasn’t the president. You weren’t dealing with the most powerful person in the world. But a much bigger concern is I can’t get $20 out of the ATM because I have less than that in it. That’s a real concern. These things that I’m dealing with are big, and they get a lot of attention, but getting fired in Tampa, Florida… was harder than this.”
He added, “Just keeping it in perspective, and that perspective at that time.”
