Bill Simmons, a sportswriter pal of Jimmy Kimmel’s, struck a positive note despite “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” being suspended. (Watch the video below.)
Simmons, who once wrote for the talk show, predicted Kimmel’s “gonna be fine” and said the host’s situation isn’t “quite as scary and terrible” as it seems.
On his podcast posted Friday, Simmons condemned the “censorship” that befell Kimmel after pressure from President Donald Trump’s FCC snowballed into ABC pulling the show, all because of Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer.
But the former ESPN commentator said even if the comedian never tells another joke on ABC, he will thrive.
“The bigger question for me: Why does Jimmy need ABC anymore?” Simmons asked. He cited shock jock Howard Stern’s second act on satellite radio after decades on traditional radio.
“If you don’t think he’s gonna figure out another way to do content in an awesome way, you just don’t know the dude,” Simmons said of Kimmel.
“The platform isn’t ABC … He can still have that platform wherever he wants because he’s the platform,” Simmons said later. “And that’s the difference in this. And that’s why I don’t think this is quite as scary and terrible as maybe it felt this week.”
The Ringer founder was on a roll.
“Yeah, we’re gonna have censorship,” he said. “Yeah, stupid shit like this apparently is gonna keep happening for the next three years. Yeah, the discourse is the ugliest it’s ever been. But I still feel like if somebody’s good enough to have a platform, they can find it. So I hope Jimmy’s show sticks around and I hope ABC sticks by him. And I think if they don’t, I think it would be pretty cowardly. I don’t think that’s a crazy thing to say. But if they don’t stick by him and this is the end, I think he’s gonna be fine. He’ll find another platform somewhere and he’ll figure out how to get all his content out in the right ways. And I would not bet against that dude.”
Fast forward to 7:22 for Simmons’ optimistic take:
