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Radio host Howard Stern told the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” audience on Tuesday that ABC would have “hell to pay” if something went wrong with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
“I want to say something to ABC if they’re watching right now,” Stern said, noting he had previously heard rumors about the show and did not know what was true or not. “There is no man more loyal to this company than this guy.”
“And what I mean by that, this is the truth. For years, I’ve said to him, you know, he goes to these things. ABC has a corporate function where they try to attract advertisers. Every year he’d go to what they call the upfronts,” Stern said.
The radio host told the audience that Kimmel would always attend the events because ABC needed him to be there.
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Radio host Howard Stern speaks with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Sept. 29, 2026. (ABC/JimmyKimmelLive)
“He has done everything for the company. And I hope that they keep that in mind,” he said. “Oh my God. I don’t know about you, but if something goes wrong, oh, is ABC going to have hell to pay. Am I correct? Are you with me?!”
ABC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Reports of Kimmel’s show being canceled were dismissed by ABC earlier this month. A spokesperson pushed back on Page Six’s report that Kimmel’s contract would not be renewed, calling any reports about the future of the late-night show “speculative.”
“Howard Stern’s reign as King of All Media is over in more ways than one,” Hollywood in Toto founder Christian Toto told Fox News Digital in a statement about Stern’s remarks. “The man who once stood tall for free speech went silent during the woke culture wars. Now, he’s rushing to a multi-millionaire’s defense, someone whose show is likely costing ABC dearly.”
“That explains why the network needs a drastic budget reduction to keep ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on the air,” he continued. “If CBS was losing $40 million a year to keep Stephen Colbert employed, imagine what ABC must swallow to appease Kimmel.”
“The old Stern would have recognized those basic business principles,” Toto added. “The new version? He’s an ultra-rich liberal supporting a fellow ultra-rich liberal while misleading the public on the issues in play.”
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Kimmel’s show was taken off-air briefly in September 2025 after remarks the late-night host made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.
The liberal late-night personality returned to air a few days later, and has referenced the suspension in frequent jabs directed at President Donald Trump, as well as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr.
Kimmel, after returning from his summer break on Sept. 8, jabbed at Carr and said, “We’re still here.”
The late-night host noted that it was the 4,000th episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“We’ve done 4,000 of these. Which is, it’s a lot of shows,” Kimmel said. “According to the White House, it’s too many shows.”
“There are those who said we would never last this long. There are even those who used the regulatory might of the FCC to unconstitutionally try to make sure we didn’t last this long. But we did it the hard way, Brendan. And we are still here,” Kimmel said.
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Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Monday, Sept. 28. (Disney via Getty Images)
The late-night host had New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the show Monday night, and questioned him repeatedly about the nature of his relationship with Trump.
The democratic socialist mayor seemed to deflect Kimmel’s questions as Mamdani avoided criticizing Trump and rejected the late-night host’s request to send him a selfie.
“Did you guys hit it off immediately or is it something that you really went into thinking, like, ‘OK, I need to have a relationship with the president of the United States and I think the best way to do it is to charm him?’ How did you do that and can you help me?” Kimmel asked Mamdani, calling his relationship with Trump “unexpected.”
Mamdani responded, “Sorry, brother.”
“The number one thing that we’ve been speaking about recently has been Sunnyside Yard, which is this idea for decades of building a platform over a rail yard and then building 12,000 homes. And so, in that moment, you know, that you zoomed in on, I’m just thinking about 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs, largest housing development since the early 1970s,” Mamdani told Kimmel.
Kimmel asked, “When you text him about Sunnyside, are you sure he doesn’t think you’re texting him about eggs?”
Mamdani said he was “pretty sure” and noted that the texts were pretty normal and didn’t resemble the president’s Truth Social posts.
“Wow. You really have broken through with him,” Kimmel said. “I mean listen, you seem to be doing a great job in New York. We might need you to move to Washington just hang out at the Oval Office all day. Like if you texted him a selfie of us right now.”
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Mamdani laughed and shut it down.
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“I love you, but I love housing more,” Mamdani responded.