When Daniel O鈥橞rien, senior writer at 鈥淟ast Week Tonight鈥, the weekly show hosted by John Oliver and known for its biting political commentary, accepted his Emmy last Sunday, he half-jokingly expressed his gratitude for receiving a prize for his work on a late-night political satire series 鈥渨hile it鈥檚 still a type of show that is allowed to exist.鈥 Just three days later, he couldn鈥檛 be so sure of that anymore after ABC suspended 鈥淛immy Kimmel Live鈥 indefinitely for remarks made by Kimmel during Monday鈥檚 show.
Kimmel had accused the MAGA movement of trying to gain political points from the murder of Charlie Kirk and suggested that the alleged shooter Tyler Robinson was 鈥渙ne of them.鈥 The comments immediately caused outrage from conservatives and even prompted a reaction from Brendan Carr, Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. In an interview on a podcast, Carr demanded consequences for Kimmel, suggesting that his agency might step otherwise. 鈥淲e can do this the easy way or the hard way,鈥 Mr. Carr told podcast host Benny Johnson, a right-wing influencer. 鈥淭hese companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there鈥檚 going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead.鈥
Kimmel, like Colbert, is a vocal critic of President Trump and his administration, who in turn has never made a secret of his disdain for both. 鈥淕reat News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,鈥 Trump wrote in a social media post in reaction to Kimmel鈥檚 suspension. 鈥淐ongratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that鈥檚 possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC,鈥 he continued, referencing Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, two colleagues of Kimmel and Colbert.
As our chart, based on a recent , shows, there is a deep partisan divide in views of the current generation of late-night hosts. While figures like Colbert, Kimmel or Fallon are very popular among Democrats, the opposite is true for most Republicans. Jimmy Fallon, who is less politically outspoken than many of his colleagues, is perhaps the only exception with 20 percent of Republicans calling him one of their favorite late-night personalities. Meanwhile two thirds of Republican respondents said that none of the listed candidates was one of their favorites, which is not a surprise given that most of them are very critical of President Trump and his policies.
