OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel, one of several who have been extremely critical of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, suggested in an interview published this week that he may soon be ending it.
“I think this is my final contract. I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough,” Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times.
His current contract expires in 2025.
Kimmel has hosted his show on ABC since 2003. He also said he’s taking a lot of time to prepare to host the Oscars later this year. In addition, he also hinted that he has been considering retiring.
“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live host told the LA Times. “Wednesday night, I was very tired, and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer.
“In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over.’ But then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, ‘Yeah, I miss the fun stuff,’” he added.
When asked if he planned to do something else if he didn’t renew his contract, Kimmel, 56, said he wasn’t sure. “It might not be anything that anyone other than me is aware of,” he told the Times, noting that he has several hobbies he could focus on instead.
“I know that when I die, if I’m fortunate enough to die on my own terms in my own bed, I’m going to think, ‘Oh, I was never able to get to this, and I was never able to get to that.’ I just know it about myself,” he said.
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He also said that he had contemplated retirement during the Writers’s Guild strike. “As you know, I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started,” he told fellow late-night talk show hosts on the Strike Force Five podcast.
But the former “Man Show” host then said he decided against the idea because the strike made him value his job.
It used to be that late-night comedian roasted whoever was President of the United States, regardless of Party, but in the age of Trump, that changed markedly. However, in June 2023, the day President Joe Biden announced his campaign for reelection at the age of 81, Kimmel roasted “Grandpa Joe’ over the idea.
“President Biden made it official he is running for president again. Said he’s running to battle for the soul of America. That’s a lot to battle for. Most people his age barely winning the battle against constipation but Grandpa Joe is back on the White House and doing 35 in the center lane with his blinker on,” he said before playing a montage video of several Biden clips.
The video poked fun at the president’s age and his propensity for whispering at press conferences.
“You know, he’s still virile and vital although if he wins he’ll be 82 when his second term starts. His face could be on money while he is still in office. What an election, Trump and Biden 76 and 80 years old. You know who else lets the oldest males run their society? Gorillas,” he said.
Several recent polls have found that a large and growing majority of Americans believe Biden is too old to run for a second term, much less serve one if he happens to win.
