Overview
- Google’s growth-based trends list placed Jimmy Kimmel third globally for 2025, behind musician d4vd and Kendrick Lamar.
- In Thursday’s monologue, Kimmel joked through the ranking and thanked his “loyal viewer” President Trump for boosting attention to his show.
- Kimmel quipped about finishing ahead of Pope Leo XIV and referenced, as a joke, claims about others on the list during the bit.
- ABC briefly suspended Kimmel in September over remarks tied to Charlie Kirk’s death, and some Sinclair and Nexstar affiliates pre-empted his show before he returned within a week.
- CNN data analyst Harry Enten said the suspension and Trump’s repeated attacks helped drive a surge in Kimmel’s searches, TV audiences topping 3 million on three post-suspension nights, and roughly 50% higher YouTube views.