What To Know
- Jimmy Kimmel and his wife discussed the unusual reality their children face as the president of the United States publicly targets their family.
- The feud escalated when ABC temporarily suspended Kimmel’s show.
- Kimmel shared that age, experience, and past hardships have helped him handle the intense public scrutiny.
Living in an age when politics can heavily define the cultural conversation is one thing, but imagine finding yourself directly in the president’s crosshairs. That’s been the case for Jimmy Kimmel, who has long used his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, as a platform to take aim at Donald Trump, his administration, and his policies.
The criticism has hardly gone unnoticed. Trump has repeatedly fired back at Kimmel, publicly attacking the late-night host, calling for his firing, and criticizing both Jimmy Kimmel Live! and ABC. Their feud reached a new level in September 2025, when ABC temporarily suspended Kimmel’s show following controversial comments he made in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk‘s killing. The decision came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly criticized Kimmel’s remarks, while Trump celebrated the suspension as “great news for America.”
Kimmel returned to the air six days later, but the episode further intensified what had already become an increasingly personal and very public battle between the comedian and the president, turning what began as political comedy into an increasingly personal and very public feud.
On Dax Shepard‘s podcast Armchair Expert, Kimmel and his wife, cohead writer and executive producer Molly McNearney, talked frankly about why he isn’t affected by Trump’s obsession with him. When asked how he’s learned to handle the pressure and criticism that come with being one of Trump’s most frequent targets, Kimmel explained that age and experience have helped him put it all into perspective.
“I let it roll off my back much more than I ever had. The older I get, the less affected I am by that,” explained Kimmel. “I think I’m not as connected to what people are saying.”
“Before I did this job, and even before I was on television, I was in a very stressful job as a radio disc jockey, getting fired from town to town to town. I’ve become hardened in some ways,” said Kimmel. “And also, at that time when I lost my job, I was in deep financial trouble. I couldn’t miss one paycheck. It was a problem. I do try to remember that. [Now] I go, ‘OK, if I don’t have this job, we’re going to be OK.’”
“Just keeping it in perspective, and that perspective at that time, it wasn’t the president. You weren’t dealing with the most powerful person in the world, but a much bigger concern is I can’t get $20 out of the ATM because I have less than that in it,” explained Kimmel. “So, that’s a real concern. So these things that I’m dealing with are big, and they get a lot of attention. But getting fired in Tampa, Florida, was harder than this.”
In addition to developing a thicker skin, as parents, the duo had to tell their children that the president of the United States was their family’s antagonist.
“I said to Jim the other day, ‘What a wild childhood for these kids to know that the president of the United States doesn’t like their father.’ That’s not a great feeling, but it’s also kind of funny,” said McNearney.
“I don’t know if they understand that he’s not like a movie villain or a TV [villain]. In a way, he is. He’s like a cartoon character,” said Kimmel. “For them, they never had a normal president. So for them it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, this is what happens with the president.’ Like the president is interchangeable with Dr. Evil or something.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Weeknights, 11:35/10:35c, ABC