There’s something uniquely captivating about a man with nothing left to lose. For Emmy-winning host Jimmy Kimmel, it seems that reaching the pinnacle of his career has only fueled a passionate, unfiltered anger—and he’s directing it squarely at the media for what he calls an outrageous lie. What was scheduled as a celebratory interview about his four new Emmy nominations quickly erupted into a blistering, take-no-prisoners defense of his friend and fellow late-night host, Stephen Colbert, and a furious masterclass on how little the press knows about the business they cover.

The catalyst for Kimmel’s fiery tirade was a report claiming that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a show that had been on the air since 2015, was losing CBS a staggering $40 million per year. The report, attributed to anonymous “industry analysts” and insiders, became a talking point in the wake of the show’s sudden cancellation, which came just after the FCC approved a controversial merger between Paramount and Skydance Studios. Many critics and commentators quickly linked the two events, suggesting the show was a casualty of a new regime, but the narrative of a massive financial failure quickly took hold.

Kimmel is calling complete “bullshit.”

“I just want to say that the idea that Stephen Colbert’s show was losing $40 million a year is beyond nonsensical,” Kimmel declared. “These alleged insiders who supposedly analyze the budgets of the shows—I don’t know who they are, but I do know they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“I don’t know who they are, but I do know they don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said. “I will tell you, the first 10 years I did the show, they claimed we weren’t making any money — and we had five times as many viewers on ABC as we do now.” 

Kimmel’s argument is as simple as it is damning: these reports are only focused on advertising revenue. According to the veteran host, they have conveniently “forgotten about affiliate fees, which number in the hundreds of millions—probably in total billions—and you must allocate a certain percentage of those fees to late-night shows.” For Kimmel, the math simply doesn’t add up. “There’s just not a snowball’s chance in hell that that’s anywhere near accurate,” he said, framing the widespread misinformation as a prime example of a larger issue. “It really is surprising how little the media seems to know about how the media works.”

The conversation, originally meant to be a pleasant chat about Kimmel’s own career success, quickly evolved into a powerful and passionate defense of an entire industry he feels is under attack. Kimmel’s anger isn’t personal; it’s professional. It’s an industry veteran, a man who started his career as a radio disc jockey and has worked his way to the top of television, calling out what he sees as a deliberate misrepresentation of a field he has dedicated his life to. His message is a rallying cry to the entire late-night community and a direct challenge to the press: the reports of late-night’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Kimmel is not just defending Colbert’s show; he’s defending late-night television itself. He dismantles the narrative that no one is watching anymore, a narrative he says is a “great storyline for the press, but it’s simply not true.” He points to the digital viewership numbers, which he says are more robust than ever before. “Our monologues get between 2 and 5 million views, sometimes more, every night,” he said. He mentions other hosts like Seth Meyers, who can get millions of views on YouTube alone. When you add in the numbers from Instagram and other platforms, the claim that late-night is a “rotting corpse” collapses. “If you look at streaming numbers—how many streaming shows get 10 million views a week? Twenty million? Very few,” he argued. “I think if you really look at how people are watching these shows, and the numbers, it’s right up there with the top shows on Netflix and Hulu.”

But Kimmel’s defense of Colbert is not just a lesson in media economics; it’s a testament to the unexpected bonds of a fiercely competitive industry. Kimmel revealed that the late-night hosts became especially close during the strike, and now share a frequent text chain. He speaks with genuine admiration for Colbert, calling him a “very moral,” “very ethical,” and “humble” man. In a move that speaks volumes about his feelings, Kimmel even put up a billboard in Los Angeles declaring his support and encouraging people to vote for Colbert at the upcoming Emmy Awards.

The timing of Colbert’s cancellation, in the midst of a politically charged merger and with a contentious presidential administration, only fuels Kimmel’s frustration. He believes that the move was politically motivated, an example of a foundational American principle—free speech—being eroded. He argues that he would defend any host, even a right-leaning commentator like Sean Hannity, if he felt they were being unfairly targeted and silenced by powerful interests. For Kimmel, it’s about a sacred principle, not politics.

This candid, no-holds-barred interview provides a rare and valuable glimpse behind the curtain of an industry often defined by its polished, on-screen personalities. It shows us a Jimmy Kimmel who is not just a talented comedian and host, but a passionate advocate for his peers and an angry critic of what he sees as irresponsible, uninformed reporting. And in a moment of pure, on-brand comedy, he even shares a hilarious, untold story about his nemesis Matt Damon almost choking on a pork rib at his house—a perfect reminder that even with the industry in turmoil, the laughter never stops.