Jimmy Fallon has said he will be avoiding politics on his talk show, following the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show after he commented on the death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which has run since 2003, was taken off the air on September 17.
Kirk was shot in the neck and killed at Utah Valley University’s campus on September 10, and, following the incident, Kimmel suggested that the signs pointed to Kirk’s shooter being a Trump supporter.
The comments drew criticism from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), with the chair of the organisation, Brendan Carr, describing it as “the sickest conduct possible” – according to the BBC.
Now, Jimmy Fallon has spoken about the involvement of politics or political discussion on his own show. Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” he said his show – The Tonight Show – has “never really been political”.
“We hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh, and that’s really the way our show works,” Fallon said. “Our monologues are kind of the same that we’ve been doing since Johnny Carson was hosting ‘The Tonight Show.’ So really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny.”
He continued: “I have great writers. And we’re just trying to make the best show we possibly can and entertain everybody.”
Returning to his show on Tuesday (September 23), Kimmel addressed his comments regarding the shooting of Charlie Kirk, saying he never intended to “make light” of the murder, but stopping short of apologising for them. He also directed criticism at President Donald Trump, whom he claimed “wants to see me and hundreds of people who work here fired.”
According to The New York Times, the returning episode drew 6.2million viewers, nearly four times the usual audience, as measured by ratings analysts Nielsen. This contradicts Trump’s assertion that the show is “failing” in the ratings, and the figure is notable given 20 per cent of ABC’s network affiliates refused to show the episode.
In other talk show-related news, in August, Trump hit out at both Kimmel and Fallon, predicting that they would be “next” after it was announced that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert would be ending in May 2026.
Earlier this year, Stephen Colbert, a vocal critic of Trump, announced that his long-running show would be ending, and the Late Show franchise itself would retire. The host took over the show in 2015 from David Letterman, who had fronted it since its inception in 1993.
It is rumoured that the cancellation was related to the merger between parent company Paramount and Skydance, which needed to be ratified by the Trump Administration.
While CBS stated the move was made for “purely financial reasons”, many have speculated that it was done to ease the merger through.
In other Jimmy Fallon-related news, earlier this year, the presenter revealed that he ruined a date with Nicole Kidman by playing Mario Kart.