The late-night landscape took a major hit this year with the unexpected cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Not long after, ABC stunned viewers by pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live!—but it turns out the audience wasn’t the only group caught off guard. I just found out, via new reports, that the decision to suspend the show was so abrupt that celebrity guests were already en route to the El Capitan Theater when they learned the taping had been canceled.
The news comes from a recent article from CNN, which suggests the stunning move came just hours after FCC Chair Brendan Carr made comments about Kimmel on a podcast. At the time, Carr suggested the agency could go as far as revoking ABC affiliate licenses in response to Kimmel’s recent on-air comments about the public reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death. ABC, which Disney owns, made the call to pull the show mid-production—while staffers were still prepping upcoming episodes and talking with talent reps.
