Following last week's dramatic announcement of Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from his ABC late-night show, popular host Seth Meyers is now facing an uncertain professional future. According to reports in US entertainment outlets, Meyers has become the next target of President Donald Trump in the late-night arena.
Kimmel, 57, was suspended last week in what industry insiders said was the result of political pressure, after his scathing criticism of murdered activist Charlie Kirk.
In his Monday night monologue, Kimmel denounced what he called the "MAGA gang," accusing the right of "desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."
He later mocked Trump's response to questions about the murder, when the president chose instead to talk about building a ballroom. Conservatives quickly celebrated Kimmel's downfall, and Trump himself posted a gleeful message on his Truth Social platform, which read like a hit list: "That leaves Jimmy and Seth," he wrote.
For Meyers, 51, who has hosted "Late Night with Seth Meyers" since 2014, the message is a clear warning. "I know Seth is rattled by all of this," said journalist and lawyer Matthew Belloni of the entertainment site Puck. Sources in the industry told the British Daily Mail that Meyers could indeed be the next to go, as networks try to move away from overtly political content so as not to draw the ire of Washington's power circles.
Hollywood commentators are already describing the situation as the start of a "hunting season," with Trump cast as the "hunter." He "points out his targets by name, celebrates their downfall, and pressures the networks to carry out the actual kill." For comedians who have built careers on political satire, they add, "the daily writing process has shifted from risky satire to something that puts their jobs directly in jeopardy, and fear is everywhere."
Meyers, who rose to prominence on the biting sketch show Saturday Night Live and later established himself as a sharp political voice in late-night television, did not stay silent. On his show, he accused the Trump administration of "a campaign to suppress free speech," citing threats made by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in the wake of Kimmel's comments.
The suspensions and cancellations are not limited to Kimmel and Meyers. CBS has already announced that Stephen Colbert's show, hosted by Trump's fiercest late-night critic, will end in May. While the network cited "business reasons," Paramount's $16 million settlement payment to Trump over a controversial interview with Vice President Kamala Harris has fueled speculation that the move was also politically motivated.
