ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel admitted on a podcast this week that constant bashing of former President Donald Trump has cost him half of his fans — "maybe more than that."
Kimmel made the claim while joining the Naked Lunch podcast, where he defended his decision to tear into the former president, even when the network allegedly pushed back against it.
"There was at one time, maybe, I don't know, like right around the beginning of this whole like Trump thing where ... that was kind of hinted at," Kimmel said of his network bosses pressuring him to lay off the Trump hate.
"But I just said, 'Listen, I get it. I don't disagree. I mean, you're right.' I have lost half of my fans — maybe more than that," he conceded. "Ten years ago, among Republicans, I was the most popular talk show host, at least according to the research that they did."
However, Kimmel stated ABC backed off after he delivered an ultimatum: "If you want somebody else to host the show, then that's fine. That's OK with me. I'm just not going to do it like that.
"They knew I was serious," he said. "I just couldn't live with myself."
Kimmel defended President Joe Biden later in the program, saying he was a "decent human being" who was doing the best he could for the country.
"Joe Biden — look, whatever you think about him ... he's a decent human being. He's a nice old man who quite plainly cared about people through his whole life," the comedian said. "He's certainly not evil. If you believe that, you've got some real problems."
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