Jimmy Kimmel Live! has seen a big jump in viewers after Jimmy Kimmel was briefly taken off the air by ABC. The recent episode, which included a popular clip of Ethan Hawke playfully interrupting Kimmel’s opening monologue, has quickly gone viral.
If you haven’t been following the news, here’s what happened: On Monday, September 15th, Jimmy Kimmel criticized Donald Trump’s reaction to the passing of Charlie Kirk. This criticism led to a response from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Shortly after, the owners of many ABC stations, Nexstar and Sinclair, decided not to air the talk show. Disney, which owns ABC, quickly followed their lead. This caused a strong public reaction, including threats of a boycott against Disney and an open letter signed by 400 celebrities who spoke out in support of free speech.
After reaching an agreement, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to television on Tuesday, with the exception of stations owned by Sinclair and Nexstar, who continued to refuse to air the show. Last night’s episode, which aired on September 24th, was another success.
Ethan Hawke crashes Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue
Actor Ethan Hawke unexpectedly appeared during Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue to jokingly address the fact that he hadn’t signed a letter supporting the show after its temporary suspension.
Kimmel began by thanking everyone who signed a letter supporting the show, including famous names like Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep. He also expressed gratitude to the over 400 other entertainers, actors, writers, directors, and producers who had signed the letter, which was organized by the ACLU.
Hawke unexpectedly came onto the stage and said, “I wasn’t scheduled to be out here, but I overheard you discussing the endorsement letter. I wanted to tell you personally how honored I was to sign it.”
Hawke and Kimmel shook hands, and the audience cheered. The humor started when Kimmel looked at the guest list and realized Hawke wasn’t supposed to be there.
Actually, Hawke’s name isn’t on the ACLU letter. There’s no clear reason why, but it’s possible he wasn’t asked to sign, or his name was accidentally left out when the list of over 400 signatures was published.
The show cleverly highlighted the mistake with a funny bit. Hawke insists he already signed the letter, saying, “I think I signed it twice… I know I signed it!” Then, while Kimmel is distracted, Hawke quickly signs the letter again while Kimmel isn’t looking.
The actor from The Black Phone joked that he wouldn’t have signed the item because it seemed like the person asking was already giving up, and he doesn’t like to support a lost cause.
During his monologue, Kimmel discussed how Trump responded to the return of his show. Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he believes ABC will be ‘tested’ as a result.
He wondered how this attempt would go, recalling that his previous pursuit of them resulted in $16 million. He believed this current situation offered even greater potential, dismissing them as a group of failures.
Okay, so Kimmel had the *best* response to Trump’s whole thing. Basically, Trump tried to say he wasn’t threatening ABC, but he did it by… threatening ABC! It was like, the most circular, ridiculous logic ever. Kimmel totally nailed it when he pointed that out – only Trump could try to prove he *wasn’t* being threatening by actually threatening someone!
Jimmy Kimmel Live! has record ratings
A monologue titled ‘Trump Threatens Jimmy Kimmel & ABC, Escalator Fiasco at the UN & Ethan Hawke Interrupts for Support’ was posted on YouTube and has quickly become very popular.
Over the last six hours, the video has been watched more than 2.3 million times, largely because it lets people watch from outside the country or from areas where it’s normally blocked.
Even though Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs on ABC and is available on Hulu, seventy local ABC stations owned by Sinclair and Nexstar are still refusing to broadcast the show.
This means that 20% of homes in the US didn’t receive last night’s episode, and Jimmy Kimmel spoke about it when he returned to the show.
The recent disagreement has actually boosted viewership. One person who doesn’t usually watch Jimmy Kimmel said they’ll start tuning in daily, simply because they disagree with what’s happening and want to stay informed.
One viewer from Hong Kong shared, ‘I used to look up to American democracy, but the last eight months have been awful.’ Another person expressed gratitude that the content was available on YouTube, saying it was important for those living in areas where Sinclair and Nexstar limit access to information.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently had its most-watched US broadcast in over ten years. Nielsen reported 6.26 million viewers on Tuesday night, which is a significant increase from its typical audience of 1.42 million between 2024 and 2025.
Jimmy Kimmel’s heartfelt speech, which lasted 28 minutes, has quickly become very popular online. It’s already been watched over 19.4 million times on YouTube since yesterday, a massive increase compared to his typical video views of around 240,000.
You can find out whether ABC has canceled Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and if the recent controversy is costing Disney money.
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2025-09-25 13:50