Jimmy Kimmel ‘Proud’ of his Anti-Trump Rhetoric, Even if it’s Cost him Half his Fanbase

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel told co-hosts of the “Naked Lunch” podcast Phil Rosenthal and David Wild, “I have lost half of my fans, maybe more than that.” He added, “10 years ago among Republicans I was the most popular talk show host.”

Kimmel shared that he is aware that his anti-Donald Trump jokes and rhetoric are the reasons for the drop in his fanbase.

Kimmel said ABC executives “hinted” to him while Trump was running for president that he should back off some. That was something Kimmel wasn’t willing to do.

“I just said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, I understand and I don’t begrudge you for it, but I’m not going to do that,” Kimmel shared.

He agreed to be more neutral and told the executives, “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.” That was the end of the push from them as Kimmel appears to have been prepared to leave over it.

Kimmel felt so strongly that he claimed, “I couldn’t live with myself”. He added, “I love this country too. That flag doesn’t belong to them. This is ours. And when I see somebody coming in and ruining it I’m going to say something about it.”

Kimmel is “proud” of his anti-Trump rhetoric and with the drop in viewership feels, “there’s a sacrifice you make when it comes to your audience and you could do pretty well if you just stayed down the middle.”

With his drop in viewership Kimmel also attributed it to a shift in how people watch his show sharing, “No one is watching network television anymore.” His YouTube channel has 18.9 million subscribers.

Kimmel it seems is proud of his “Trump derangement syndrome”. It may sound to some like Kimmel believes he is battling for the version of the country he wants.