NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from late night is not the first time a TV host has faced pushback or punishment for their on-air comments or off-air actions.
Career fabrications, romances, racial discussions, conflicts of interest, slurs, lewd language and sexual assault: TV hosts have faced career repercussions or pushback for all of the above. But the cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” amid their hosts’ vocal anti-Trump stances has lately put the spotlight on humor and free speech.
Late night TV talk shows have drifted deeper into politics since the days when Johnny Carson ruled the airwaves. Kimmel, Colbert, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Greg Gutfeld and John Oliver have all leaned heavily on political satire to draw laughs.
It was something Carson warned about in a 1979 interview with “60 Minutes.”
“Why do they think just because you have a ‘Tonight Show’ that you must deal in serious issues?” he asked. “It’s a danger. It’s a real danger once you start that. You start to get that self-important feeling that what you say has great import. And you know, strangely enough, you could use that show as a forum. You could sway people, and I don’t think you should as an entertainer.”
Jay Leno, one of Carson’s successors, says he also tries to steer clear of partisanship in an interview this year with The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
“I like to bring people into the big picture,” Leno said. “I don’t understand why you would alienate one particular group,” adding: “I don’t think anybody wants to hear a lecture.”
Kimmel’s suspension Wednesday came after the host’s on-air comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing. His case is just the latest when a TV host has found themselves in controversy.
On-air comments
Brian Williams had been NBC News’ top anchor from 2004 until 2015, when he was suspended for falsely claiming that he had been in a helicopter hit by enemy fire during the Iraq War. A subsequent investigation found that he had made other inaccurate statements about his experiences covering events, and he lost the job. He was later given the 11 p.m. hour at MSNBC.
In 2021, Sharon Osbourne was fired from CBS’ “The Talk” after a heated on-air discussion about racism and Megyn Kelly was fired from her NBC morning show in 2018 after triggering a furor by suggesting it was OK for white people to wear blackface at Halloween.
“What is racist? You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a Black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK just as long as you were dressing as a character,” Kelly said. The next day, she apologized to viewers on air, saying, “I want to begin with two words: “I’m sorry.” The show was canceled by the end of the week.
In 2023, CNN fired host Don Lemon a little over two months after he apologized for on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being past her prime. Lemon issued a statement the same day saying he regretted his “inartful and irrelevant” comments.
Hot mic
Former “Today” host Billy Bush was fired in 2016 after he was caught on tape in a vulgar conversation about women with then -Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before an “Access Hollywood” appearance.
Bush was suspended at the morning show two days after contents of the 2005 tape were reported. On the tape, Bush is heard laughing as Trump talks about fame enabling him to grope and try to have sex with women not his wife.
Romantic relationship
In 2023, T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach, anchors at the afternoon extension of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” left the network after their romance was reported.
The pair were taken off the air and placed on temporary hiatus after photos surfaced of them holding hands and spending time together. Both were married to other people at the time but had separated. “We all agreed it’s best for everyone that they move on from ABC News,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement.
Off-air comments
Alec Baldwin’s MSNBC once-a-week talk show “Up Late With Alec Baldwin” was suspended and then canceled in 2013 after he made a gay slur in a confrontation with journalists.
Baldwin was captured on video using the vulgarity while leaving his Manhattan home. Initially he denied using the slur, but after widespread criticism he conceded in a Twitter message that he had: “I apologize and will retire it from my vocabulary,” he said. His show had lasted just five episodes.
Off-air conduct
“Today” show host Matt Lauer was fired in 2017 for what NBC called “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a colleague and was accused of crude and habitual misconduct with other women around the office.
NBC said at the time that “Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible.”
Lauer was one of the biggest names brought down by the #MeToo movement. That same year, CBS also fired host Charlie Rose after several women who worked for him complained about his behavior. Rose apologized for his actions and settled a subsequent lawsuit that included the plaintiffs stating they assigned no “ill intent” to Rose and realize now that his conduct could be subject to interpretation.
In Britain in 2015, the BBC dropped Jeremy Clarkson after the “Top Gear” host was responsible for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” that left a colleague bleeding and seeking hospital treatment. Clarkson and his co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May left and reunited for a similar show at Amazon.
Conflict of interest
CNN fired anchor Chris Cuomo in 2021 after learning the extent about how he assisted his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as the politician faced sexual harassment allegations.
New York’s attorney general released details showing Chris Cuomo was more involved than previously known in helping to strategize and reach out to other journalists as his brother fought to keep his job.
As women came forward accusing the governor of sexual harassment, his brother, despite being a CNN anchor, pressed sources for information on the accusers and reported back to the governor’s staff on what he was learning and was active in helping craft their response to the charges, according to emails and a transcript of his testimony to investigators working for state Attorney General Letitia James.
