Jimmy Kimmel's future in doubt as huge ABC contract set to expire

Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been "suspended indefinitely", however, fans are worried this is in effect a cancellation as the host's multi-million dollar contract is set to expire in just a few months.

ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel's long-running late-night show after the host made controversial remarks about the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The suspension is currently set to continue "indefinitely", and no permanent decision has been made about its future, excluding a demand that Kimmel apologise to Kirk's family if he wishes to get back on the air.

However, some news outlets have reported that Kimmel's $48million contract with ABC is set to end in 2026. If it is not renewed, the show will end. The network reportedly want to keep him as the host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, but it is possible that they either will not renew his contract, or issue a new one that does not include Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

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Kimmel has yet to make a statement about the show's suspension or his comments, which aired on Monday (15 September). The television host included Kirk's death as part of his opening monologue on Monday's show and told viewers that the "MAGA gang" were using the death to "score political points".

To the outrage of many Hollywood stars, including Ben Stiller, Jean Smart and Wanda Sykes, Kimmel's show faced backlash and was suspended. Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said Kimmel was trying to "mislead the American people" and insisted the show be pulled.

Stiller, Smart, Sykes and more have all criticised the suspension as an attack on free speech, something Kirk was passionate about protecting, though he argued it was under threat from left-wing critics of hate speech rather than from the Trump administration.

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter last year, Kirk said: "Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment."

Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that people who post "hate speech" will be "shut down" and implied that the Trump administration would actively pursue those it believes to have participate in hate speech. "There's free speech, and then there's hate speech," Bondi said on a podcast. "We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech."

The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! happened so abruptly that staff were reportedly minutes from going on air when the show was shut down. This sharp halt to filming comes only months after another network, CBS, announced the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It is believed that the show was cancelled because of remarks made about President Trump and a resulting lawsuit from the president. Trump has also started legal proceedings against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, both of which have criticised his administration.

Many are concerned for the future of many late night television shows, as the President also posted on Truth Social that NBC should axe Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers' shows. He congratulated ABC for "finally having the courage to do what had to be done" and added: "That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!"

Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the FCC, told CNN o Wednesday (17 September) that the suspension of Kimmel's show had nothing to do with hate speech or inciting violence. "This administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression, not because it glorifies violence or breaks the law, but because it challenges those in power and reflects views they oppose."

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