The Shocking Crossfire Confessions: How Colbert and Kimmel’s Backstage Betrayal Exposed Late-Night’s Darkest Secrets to Trump The studio lights flickered like a storm about to break when Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel locked eyes across rival networks, their faces etched with the raw pain of betrayal.ng1

On Tuesday, September 30, both Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert revealed how they reacted to the cancellation of their respective talk shows. While Kimmel’s show was temporarily suspended, Colbert’s show is coming to an end in May 2026. Both of them hosted each other on their respective shows and shared the details on their responses to the news.

Jimmy Kimmel reveals how he learned of his ABC suspension to Stephen Colbert

In a rare crossover, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert appeared on each other’s shows Tuesday night. The two hosts shared details on how they found out about their respective shows being pulled off the air.

While on Colbert’s show, Kimmel recalled the moment he got a call from an ABC executive. “I get a phone call. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual.”

Kimmel continued, “I’m on the phone with the ABC executives, and they say, ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down, we’re concerned about what you’re gonna say tonight, and we’ve decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.”

Kimmel recalled how he explained to the executives that it was a bad idea. However, they told him that they had put the idea to a vote, and he lost. After his conversation, he shared that he broke the news only to a few of his producers. He recalled thinking, “This is it, I’m never coming back on the air.’ That’s really what I thought.”

Meanwhile, Colbert faced a more permanent cancellation. CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would end next May due to financial reasons. Colbert recalled how his manager broke the news to him after the July 16 taping.

After the meeting, Colbert shared that he reached his home two and a half hours late, and his wife said to him, “What happened? Did you get canceled?” He added, “I said, ‘Yes, I did.”

Colbert’s manager, James Dixon, who is also Kimmel and Seth Meyers’ manager, knew about the cancellation several days before he broke the news to Colbert. “He didn’t want to tell me because I was on vacation,” Colbert shared.

Colbert then recalled that he shared the news with his staff the next day. After filming that day’s episode, he told the audience, “Okay, now nobody leave because we’ve got one more act of the show.” Then he rushed backstage, got his staff on Zoom, and delivered the news. Later, he returned to the stage to share it with the live audience.