Trump celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods: Jimmy Kimmel slams US president on his return to Jimmy Kimmel Live after six-day suspension

Jimmy Kimmel launched an attack on US President Donald Trump as he recorded his first show following his return to late-night television on Tuesday (September 23, 2025) after a nearly weeklong suspension. Kimmel’s late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" was taken off air, and he was suspended by the BBC over his on-air remarks about Tyler Robinson, suspected killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, that drew the ire of the Trump administration.

Kimmel had made remarks on Monday night about the September 10 assassination of Kirk. "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 said on his Monday night show.

As he returned after a six-day suspension, the late-night host took on Trump directly and said that the US president celebrates when Americans lose their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke. “The president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,” Kimmel said.


“He was able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS, then he turned his sights on me, and now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows who don’t make millions of dollars,” he added.“And I hope that if that happens, or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week,” he continued.

In a swipe at Trump, Kimmel played a lengthy clip of him saying he doesn't have talent or ratings. “Well, I do tonight,” Kimmel said of his ratings. He then joked that Trump “might have to release the Epstein files to distract from this. This backfired bigly!”

What did Trump say about Kimmel’s return after suspension

Before Kimmel's show aired, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote that he "can't believe" ABC gave Kimmel back his show, and hinted at further action. "Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who's not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE," Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.

"He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we're going to test ABC out on this."

While ABC parent Walt Disney announced on Monday that it was ready to restore Kimmel to the airwaves, station owners Nexstar Media and Sinclair have said they will continue to pre-empt Kimmel's time slot with other programming on their network affiliate stations, which reach about 23% of U.S. households.