Well-liked tv host Jimmy Kimmel has revealed that he has misplaced no less than half of his fanbase after cracking jokes in opposition to former president Donald Trump.
“I’ve misplaced half of my followers—possibly greater than that,” Kimmel mentioned in an interview with Stitcher’s “Bare Lunch” podcast. “Ten years in the past, amongst Republicans, I used to be the preferred speak present host, no less than in accordance with the analysis that they did.” The “Jimmy Kimmel Reside!” present has been airing on ABC since 2003.
When Trump was first working for workplace, executives at ABC had “hinted” that Kimmel could be higher off backing away from anti-Trump jokes.
Nonetheless, the comic insisted that he’s not going to cease joking about Trump regardless of agreeing that extra impartial comedy would assist the rankings of his present.
Kimmel informed executives that they will rent another person to host the present if they need however in accordance with Kimmel, they backed off after they knew he was “critical.”
Claiming that he was “proud” to talk in opposition to Trump, Kimmel went on to joke about nonetheless airing exhibits when the previous president “goes to jail.”
The comic additionally defended present president Joe Biden, saying that he’s a “respectable human being” it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks about him. Biden is “actually not evil” and those that imagine so have gotten “some actual issues,” Kimmel mentioned.
Kimmel’s present has struggled to get viewers in current occasions, with rankings considerably dropping in the course of the previous few years. In 2016, Jimmy Kimmel Reside garnered 2.2 million viewers on common, a quantity that has declined by over a 3rd to 1.5 million in 2022.
Discuss Present Viewers Drop, Bias Towards Trump
Kimmel isn’t the one speak present host who has seen viewers numbers fall up to now years. Different liberal hosts have additionally seen a decline in viewership.
NBC’s “Late Night time with Seth Meyers,” which attracted round 1.5 million viewers in 2016 now solely has a viewership of 786,000, in accordance with Fox. CBS’ “The Late Late Present” has misplaced 36 p.c of viewers throughout this era. Jimmy Fallon, the host of “Tonight Present” has seen viewership decline by virtually 60 p.c.
In 2018, Fallon apologized for ruffling Trump’s hair throughout a cordial interview weeks earlier than the 2016 presidential race. Anti-trump critics claimed that the motion had humanized Trump and helped him within the elections.
Sketch comedy program “Saturday Night time Reside,” which has been very biased in the way it treats Trump as in opposition to Biden, has additionally suffered a drop in viewers numbers.
In keeping with an evaluation by Fox Information, the present solely satirized Biden thrice throughout his first yr in workplace. In distinction, Trump was satirized no less than 11 occasions in his first yr. In 2017, the present used to common 7.4 million viewers, which has now fallen to 4.7 million.
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