Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel said he was "intent on retiring" from "Jimmy Kimmel Live" before the Hollywood writers strikes.
Kimmel, 55, discussed the topic Wednesday on the debut episode of his new Spotify podcast "Strike Force Five," which he hosts with Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert.
"I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started," Kimmel said. "Now I realize, oh yeah, it's kind of nice to work."
Late-night shows went dark in May when TV and film writers in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a new contract agreement between the union and Hollywood studios and streamers.
In July, SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 actors and performers, went on strike after it was unable to reach a new contract agreement with major studios.
"The reason we're doing this is because we're financially supporting members of our staff," Kimmel said on the podcast, adding, "Everyone that works on a TV show is out of work right now, and so all the money that we make on this show goes to them."
Earlier this week, "Breaking Bad" star Aaron Paul lent his voice to the strikes, calling out Netflix for not "paying people a fair wage."
Paul made his comments from the SAG-AFTRA picket line.
"I don't get a piece from Netflix on 'Breaking Bad,' to be totally honest," he said, according to the Associated Press. "And that's insane to me."
One significant disagreement in negotiations between actors and Hollywood studios centers is on residuals, the earnings generated when projects are featured on streaming services and various distribution platforms. Many actors and writers receive minimal or no share of these payments.
In this case, although all 62 episodes of "Breaking Bad" originally aired on AMC, they are now available to stream on Netflix.
"I think a lot of these streamers know that they have been getting away with not paying people a fair wage," Paul said. "And now it's time to pony up."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.