On Feb. 25, 2024, Esspots.com published an article [archived here] positing that late-night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were fired by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
The article began:
Breaking: ABC Fires Stephen Colbert Along with Jimmy Kimmel, "They Both Lost Their Touch"
In an unprecedented move that has sent shockwaves through the entertainment world, ABC has announced the termination of two of its most renowned late-night hosts, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, citing a decline in their ability to resonate with audiences. This bold decision marks a significant turning point for the network and the late-night television landscape as a whole, stirring up a mix of reactions from industry insiders, fans, and critics alike.
The claim made its way to the Esspots Facebook page, SpaceX Fanclub, where it went viral with more than 11,000 reactions and 6,000 comments, as of this writing. "Their spark has faded, but their disease of wokeism has not," one of the top comments read.
This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. Esspots.com describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:
Welcome to Esspots.com, a website that specializes in satire, parody, and humor. Before you proceed to read our content, we would like to emphasize that nothing on this website is real. All of the articles, stories, and commentary found on Esspots.com are entirely fictitious and created for the purpose of entertainment only.
In addition, Colbert's show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, is a CBS production, not ABC.
If ABC did fire Jimmy Kimmel, major news sources would have reported the news. As of this writing, the latest video – titled This Week in Unnecessary Censorship – published by Jimmy Kimmel Live! was posted on March 4, 2024.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.