Disney Boss Gets Cagey When Grilled on Jimmy Kimmel’s Future: ‘Good Question’

Disney boss Dana Walden refused to say whether Jimmy Kimmel will still have a late-night show on ABC next year, as questions mount over the host’s future when his current contract expires.

Walden, president and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Company, was pressed directly about Jimmy Kimmel Live! during an appearance at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles.

“So we had your friend Jimmy Kimmel on the stage last year. Is he going to be hosting his show a year from now?” Bloomberg managing editor Lucas Shaw asked.

“Well, I’m certainly not going to make that announcement with you here today. Because again, I’m letting Casey make the news,” Walden replied, referring to Disney Entertainment television chief Casey Bloys.

Shaw followed up by asking why keeping Kimmel was not a “no-brainer,” noting that his ratings had risen and describing him as a “free speech hero.”

Walden pointed instead to the increasingly difficult economics of traditional late-night television: “OK, that’s a good question. And the truth is, it’s a very challenging daypart, late-night. That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late-night on broadcast television.”

She added: “Obviously, there’s a YouTube channel, millions of people are watching on demand, the parts of that show, that is not a lucrative opportunity for a very premium talk show.”

Walden said Disney was now trying to reconcile those business pressures with its long relationship with Kimmel: “I love Jimmy, we have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney. And again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both, what does Jimmy want? What’s the right thing to do? And what’s the right thing for our business?”

The comments come amid renewed speculation over whether Jimmy Kimmel Live! will continue beyond Kimmel’s current deal, which runs through May 2027.

A recent Page Six report claimed the show was approaching its final season, but ABC contended that the information was “inaccurate” and said that reports about its future remained “purely speculative.”

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