Back for his 4,000th show and Jimmy Kimmel is already poking the bear, signaling a new round of hostilities with the FCC
Right where he left off.
Jimmy Kimmel marked a massive milestone on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, as he stepped back onto the stage for the 4,000th episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! It’s a staggering number of shows, and Kimmel made sure his comeback was anything but quiet. He wasted no time jumping right back into the fray, signaling that his ongoing tension with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is far from resolved.
According to Fox News, Kimmel didn’t hold back during his opening monologue, directly addressing FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. He leaned into the history of their clash, specifically referencing the regulatory pressure that led to his show being briefly suspended last year. “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.”
He then ramped up the intensity, telling the audience, “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.”
This “hard way” comment is a direct callback to the heated standoff from 2025
Back in September 2025, Carr had issued a stern warning to ABC and Disney, suggesting that the FCC could take drastic action if the network didn’t handle Kimmel’s commentary regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk. At the time, Carr had stated, “Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
It’s clear that Kimmel hasn’t forgotten that ultimatum, and his return to the airwaves feels like a deliberate poke at the bear. Kimmel’s September 2025 comments suggested that Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, was affiliated with the “MAGA gang.” Carr, who was vocal about his disapproval, claimed there was a “concerted effort to try to lie to the American people” about the nature of the event.
He argued that Kimmel was pushing a biased narrative. This pressure eventually led to a suspension, which former Disney CEO Bob Iger defended in an interview with the Financial Times. Iger noted that Disney viewed the comments as “in bad taste,” and claimed the company wanted Kimmel to acknowledge that it was an “ill-timed and probably inappropriate comment.”
The White House has consistently made its stance on the host very clear
A spokesman for the White House, Davis Ingle, provided a biting assessment, saying, “Jimmy Kimmel is a no-talent loser who has be-clowned himself with tanking ratings and by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience. He is so devoid of actual talent that nobody with any commonsense would ever watch him unless it was to laugh at his miserable failures.”
Kimmel also took his usual shots at Donald Trump during Tuesday’s episode. He joked about their shared summer experience, saying, “You know, Donald Trump and I have one thing in common: We both accomplished nothing all summer long.” He continued his critique by bringing up inflation, the President’s approval ratings, and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where he quipped that “Blockbuster Video has a better chance of reopening” than the strait.
It’s been a wild ride for the show, especially with recent rumors swirling about its future. Us Weekly reports that hours before the 4,000th episode aired, reports claimed that the 25th season of the show would be its last, with a finale slated for May 2027. However, an ABC Entertainment spokesperson quickly squashed those rumors, calling the information “inaccurate” and noting that any talk about the show ending is purely speculative.
The pressure of the job remains a talking point though
Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney, who also serves as a co-head writer and executive producer for the show, recently discussed the toll of this environment. On the August 24 episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, she mentioned that retirement appeals to her for the sake of the household’s nervous system.
“I feel like Jimmy has a fly rod in one hand and a torch in the other right now,” she said. She added that while she wants him to be able to relax, she also understands his drive to keep fighting because of the importance of the work he is doing.
For now, it seems the show is moving forward. Kimmel, who premiered his show back in January 2003 after the Super Bowl, is clearly sticking to his guns. Whether or not this renewed defiance leads to more trouble with the FCC remains to be seen, but it’s safe to say the late-night landscape is going to remain pretty volatile for the foreseeable future.
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