Calls for ABC to remove Jimmy Kimmel are still part of the political-media fight around late-night television, but the latest business signals point in the opposite direction: Kimmel remains under contract, and new ratings coverage says his show just had its strongest month in years.
The Daily Beast reported Monday, July 13, 2026, that Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 3.15 million viewers per night in June, citing Nielsen Live+7 data first reported by LateNighter. The report said June was the highest average monthly rating in the show's 23-year run.
That does not end the pressure campaign. AP reported in December that ABC extended Kimmel's deal through at least May 2027 after an earlier suspension, even as President Donald Trump continued urging the network to get him off the air. More recently, AP noted that Donald and Melania Trump had called for ABC to fire Kimmel over a joke about the first lady.
Why the removal calls matter
The Kimmel fight is bigger than one host's monologues. It sits inside a wider dispute over whether political officials can pressure broadcasters over commentary they dislike.
AP reported last week that ABC is fighting the FCC over whether The View should remain classified as a bona fide news program exempt from equal-time rules. In that dispute, ABC accused the Trump administration of trying to chill free speech and said the FCC was targeting programs perceived as unfriendly to the administration.
The Guardian reported in April that the FCC accelerated review of eight ABC-owned local station licenses after a White House attack on Kimmel. A Disney spokesperson said at the time that ABC and its stations had a long record of complying with FCC rules and serving local communities.
The ratings complication
The political argument for removing Kimmel often points to the idea that his show is weak or unpopular. The current ratings coverage complicates that argument. The Daily Beast reported that Kimmel's June audience was up 24% from May and that the show led the 18-to-49 demographic among the 11:35 p.m. late-night lineup.
Ratings alone do not settle whether a network should keep a host. Advertiser pressure, affiliate relations, political risk and corporate strategy all matter. But strong audience numbers give ABC a business reason to resist demands that are framed mainly as punishment for political comedy.
What to watch next
The next signal is not whether critics keep calling for Kimmel's removal; they almost certainly will. The more important question is whether ABC treats those calls as reputational noise, advertiser risk, affiliate pressure or a regulatory threat.
For now, the public facts point to a host who remains on ABC's schedule, a contract that runs into 2027 and a network fighting a broader FCC dispute over editorial independence.
