Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension was his own fault. The ABC late night host’s mean-spirited commentary disguised as comedy drove conservatives away. Kimmel was completely unconcerned with this development, but his desire to turn his show into a liberal echo chamber might prove to be his downfall because when he claimed that conservatives were desperately trying to “characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” ABC felt they had no choice but to take him off the air. 
According to an aggregation of previous NewsBusters studies, 92 percent of Kimmel’s jokes since January 2023 have been about conservatives, and since September 2022, 97 percent of his political guests have been liberals.
Jokes
Since NewsBusters began keeping track, Kimmel told a total of 7,797 political jokes over 369 episodes. Of these, 7,189 were about right-leaning people, groups, or things. Only 565 (7 percent) were about left-leaners and 43 (1 percent) were about non-partisan targets.
The problem with Jimmy Kimmel is that he very obviously hates the millions of Americans who don’t think like him.
— Bill D'Agostino (@Banned_Bill) September 18, 2025
He joked about them dying of COVID. He called them fascists and neo-nazis for attending CPAC. That’s not the kind of person who should be gifted a national TV show. pic.twitter.com/dGw6FplXCZ
Kimmel’s top ten favorite targets included only one Democrat. They were: Donald Trump (3,584), Joe Biden (336), George Santos (308), Elon Musk (209), Mike Lindell (203), Melania Trump (181), Donald Trump Jr. (165), MAGA/Trump supporters (155), Eric Trump (142), and Republicans (139).
Disparities could also be seen in comparing left and right equivalents:
- Republicans 139 vs. Democrats 8
- Conservatives 52 vs. Liberals 5
- Fox News 71 and Newsmax 4 vs. CNN 3 and MSNBC 0
- JD Vance 128 and Mike Pence 8 vs. Tim Walz 15 and Kamala Harris 12
- Mike Johnson 56 and Kevin McCarthy 27 vs. Nancy Pelosi 2 and Hakeem Jeffries 1
- Melania Trump 181 vs. Jill Biden 5
- Donald Trump Jr. 165 and Eric Trump 142 vs. Hunter Biden 23
Guests
Ever since NewsBusters started counting, Kimmel has brought on 63 political guests, 61 of whom have been liberals or Democrats. That works out to 97 percent. However, the two conservative guests both come with disclaimers. One guest was My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who, as a condition for his appearance, spent the entire interview inside of an arcade claw machine game. It was not meant to be a serious interview. Second was comedian Bill Burr, who confronted Kimmel on his own show about liberals making Trump a martyr amid all his legal battles. However, Burr is counted as a liberal in his other appearance because of his “Free Luigi” ramblings.
In addition to Burr, guests to appear multiple times in the study’s runtime include George Conway, Jane Fonda, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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As of this publishing, the future of Jimmy Kimmel Live! is uncertain. Reporting suggests ABC wants to bring Kimmel back, and the suspension was a way to prevent him from saying anything inflammatory that could make their situation with the public and their affiliates worse because Kimmel apparently believes he did nothing wrong and was in a fighting mood.
Notes: All statistics include episodes during Kimmel’s summer vacations that are guest-hosted
