Amid the controversy surrounding ABC’s decision to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live!, it was only a matter of time until Bill Simmons weighed in.
Not only is The Ringer founder a late-night television historian of sorts, but he’s also a close friend of Kimmel’s who previously served as a writer on the show. As such, even Simmons admitted that it was unsurprising that he was taking Kimmel’s side regarding ABC’s shelving of his show, which came after public pressure from the FCC following comments the host made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Simmons began Friday’s episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast by addressing the Kimmel controversy for the first time. And after placing Kimmel’s leverage with ABC somewhere between CBS’ decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC’s steadfast commitment to Saturday Night Live, the ex-ESPN columnist pointed to the political pressure that the Trump administration was able to apply amid Nexstar’s impending purchase of Tegna.
“What we learned from all of this stuff was that the affiliates and these companies, there’s this merger, you have Nexstar merging with Tegna, two companies that I’ve put zero thought in over the years, but apparently they wanna merge. They need FCC approval. The FCC, the guy who runs it appointed by Trump… he sees an opportunity to leverage some stuff they need to approve the merger,” said Simmons, who shares an agent with Kimmel in James “Baby Doll” Dixon. “So now you start leveraging and leveraging. And if you wanna get rid of a show like Jimmy’s show, this is the moment to do it.”
Simmons proceeded to repeat reporting on the story from Rolling Stone, which stated: “In the hours leading up to the decision to pull Kimmel, two sources familiar with the matter say, senior executives at ABC, its owner Disney, and affiliates convened emergency meetings to figure out how to minimize the damage. Multiple execs felt that Kimmel had not actually said anything over the line, the two sources say, but the threat of Trump administration retaliation loomed.”
“And that’s why this isn’t cancel culture. This is censorship, which is a completely different situation,” Simmons added.
Yet despite Kimmel’s current predicament, the Boston native expressed an optimistic outlook for his former boss’ future. Pointing to examples of talents who have built their own platforms — including himself — Simmons questioned whether a talent like Kimmel even needs the backing of a traditional media company in today’s age of media.
“The platform isn’t ABC, it’s not a late night show that Jimmy is lucky enough to host, even though he is lucky. He can still have that platform wherever he wants because he’s the platform,” Simmons said. “And that’s the difference in this. And that’s why I don’t think this is quite as scary and terrible as maybe it felt this week.
“Yeah, we’re gonna have censorship. Yeah, stupid sh*t like this apparently is gonna keep happening for the next three years. Yeah, the discourse is the ugliest it’s ever been. But I still feel like if somebody’s good enough to have a platform, they can find it. So I hope Jimmy’s show sticks around and I hope ABC sticks by him. And I think if they don’t, I think it would be pretty cowardly. I don’t think that’s a crazy thing to say. But if they don’t stick by him and this is the end, I think he’s gonna be fine. He’ll find another platform somewhere and he’ll figure out how to get all his content out in the right ways. And I would not bet against that dude.”
According to CNN, ABC is hopeful to bring Kimmel back, although doing so could ultimately prove easier said than done. But to Simmons’ point, this surely isn’t the last we’ve heard from the former Man Show star, whether it’s on ABC’s airwaves or elsewhere.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.