Jimmy Kimmel announced on Thursday, June 19, 2026, that he will step away from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for two months this summer — and he is handing the reins to a lineup that includes one figure almost certain to rattle the White House: Rosie O’Donnell, President Donald Trump’s most enduring celebrity adversary.
Kimmel made the announcement on his last show before the break, delivering it with a pointed aside about his involuntary absence last year. “I hope you’re paying attention this summer, because I will be taking the next two months off — this time voluntarily,” he told the audience, a clear nod to September 2025, when ABC pulled the program for nearly a week after he criticized some Republicans for their reaction to the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
A Guest Roster Built to Make Headlines
Kimmel named what he called “a potent group of hosts” who will begin substituting starting the week of July 6. Tiffany Haddish will kick things off during that first week, with Anthony Anderson, Ike Barinholtz, Colman Domingo and Jelly Roll taking turns throughout the summer. O’Donnell will also host, though her specific week has not been announced — though whenever it happens, it’s sure to generate headlines. Kimmel described booking O’Donnell as a tongue-in-cheek present for the president, saying he had invited one of Trump’s favorite people to keep delivering memorable moments.
He drew laughter and applause from the studio crowd before joking that he hoped Trump wouldn’t make any rash decisions while he was gone — a line that worked both as humor and pointed commentary.
O’Donnell and Trump: Two Decades of Open Warfare
The feud between O’Donnell and Trump stretches back to 2006, when she criticized him during an episode of “The View.” What began as a sharp exchange on daytime television calcified over the years into something more corrosive, flaring with particular intensity after Trump’s re-election in 2024. O’Donnell relocated to Ireland with her youngest child in early 2025, shortly after that victory, stating she made the move to protect her child’s well-being and her own mental health amid the stress of Trump’s political presence and his public threats to revoke her U.S. citizenship.
Those threats were not rhetorical. In July 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social that O’Donnell was “a Threat to Humanity” who should stay in Ireland, closing the message with “GOD BLESS AMERICA.” That September, he shared a distorted image of her face on the same platform and renewed the citizenship threat in writing, stating the administration was “giving serious thought to taking away Rosie O’Donnell’s Citizenship” and declaring she was “not a Great American.” O’Donnell responded on Instagram, saying Trump was using her as a distraction and comparing him to Logan Roy from Succession, while suggesting he wanted to divert attention from the Epstein survivors. The back-and-forth between the two continued to escalate through the fall, with neither side showing any sign of stepping back.
The Shadow of Last September’s Suspension
Kimmel’s reference to taking time off “voluntarily” carried real weight for anyone who followed the events of September 2025. His Sept. 15, 2025, broadcast, in which he criticized Republican responses to Charlie Kirk’s death, prompted swift condemnation from prominent conservative figures. FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened regulatory action, and ABC pulled the show from the air. Protests erupted outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, and at ABC headquarters in New York, with viewers on both sides debating free speech and broadcast responsibility.
Kimmel returned to air on Sept. 23, 2025, visibly shaken. He told his audience he had never intended to make light of a young man’s death and offered a defense of the very platform that had just silenced him, arguing that the show itself mattered far less than living in a country that permitted it to exist. That return episode drew more than six million total viewers.
Matt Damon Crashes the Farewell in a Trojan Horse
Thursday’s send-off would not have been complete without a visit from Kimmel’s long-running on-air nemesis, Matt Damon. The actor — who arrived on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” stage inside a literal Trojan horse brought in by a UPS driver — told the audience he had come to promote Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” set to open July 17. The entrance was in keeping with the film’s ancient Greek subject matter, and the two men traded their usual insults before Damon’s promotional plug brought the bit to a close. The gag served as a fitting send-off: absurd, self-aware and built entirely around the kind of recurring bit that has defined the show’s identity for years.
With guest hosts spanning comedy, drama and music, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is set to maintain its nightly presence through the summer. Whether O’Donnell’s eventual appearance draws the presidential response Kimmel almost certainly anticipated when he booked her remains to be seen.