On April 27, 2023, Disney blog Inside the Magic posted an article with the headline, "ABC Fires Jimmy Kimmel During 'Jimmy Kimmel Live.'" It said:
ABC Fires Jimmy Kimmel During 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'
Jimmy Kimmel had his monologue interrupted Monday night by breaking news; after 20 years, ABC has decided to part ways with the late-night host.
The breaking news came just moments after Jimmy Kimmel mentioned the termination of Fox News host Tucker Carlson and CNN's Don Lemon. Mid-sentence, it cuts to Kimmel's sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, who delivers the news.
"We have some breaking news," said Guillermo. "After 20 years on the air, ABC TV has decided to part ways with its host, Jimmy Kimmel." Guillermo added, "On a personal note, I'd like to say to Jimmy, don't let the door hit you in your ass on the way out."
We found posts about the claim that included screenshots of the article on Twitter and TikTok. We also found unrelated posts about the claim on Facebook.
Kimmel was not fired by ABC during "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The "breaking news" was a joke from the show itself. We found the segment of the show mentioned in the article posted to the show's YouTube page on April 24, 2023.
In the segment, Kimmel discussed how both Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson had recently been fired from CNN and FOX respectively. A "News Alert" then interrupted the segment, with show correspondent Guillermo Rodriguez reading from a piece of paper that ABC had decided to part ways with Kimmel. Rodriguez said:
And on personal note, I would like to say to Jimmy: don't let the door hit you in your ass on the way out. Loser!
"That's a — I have to say — a hell of a way to find out," Kimmel said after the "News Alert" concluded. "It could have been worse. I could have been traded to the Jets." He then went back to discussing Carlson's firing in particular.
If Kimmel had been fired in the middle of the show, reputable news publications as well as entertainment publications would have reported it. The show also wouldn't have continued to air new episodes each night in the weeks that followed, as it did.
Further into the story, the Inside the Magic article also revealed that Kimmel hadn't been fired either:
Obviously, it was just a hilarious joke that mimicked the real breaking news from earlier that day. Both Carlson and Lemon's termination came as a surprise to both their colleagues and viewers. And while the networks claimed they were mutual decisions, Kimmel alluded to the fact that Carlson ended his last show on Friday with "We'll be back on Monday," being completely unaware that he would be terminated before then.
It is, however, a bit ironic to make fun of Tucker Carlson being let go from Fox News when the ABC network is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company and is also currently firing employees. So while this was only a funny bit, it should be considered a little too close to home for the staff at ABC.
We previously fact-checked whether late-night TV shows, including Kimmel's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," shut down live production during the 2023 Writer's Guild of America strike.