Overview
- Jimmy Kimmel, who announced on Thursday June 18 that he will take a voluntary two-month break from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, said a rotating roster of guest hosts will begin the week of July 6 and that Rosie O'Donnell will guest-host for a week starting Monday, August 17.
- Kimmel listed Tiffany Haddish, Colman Domingo, Ike Barinholtz, Anthony Anderson and country star Jelly Roll among the summer fill-ins who will keep the show on air while he is away.
- The decision to tap O'Donnell is notable because she moved to Ireland after the 2024 election and has a long-running public feud with President Donald Trump, who has publicly threatened to consider revoking her U.S. citizenship.
- Coverage of the announcement has split along partisan lines, with some commentators criticizing Kimmel's choices as overtly political and others framing O'Donnell's return as a deliberate, attention-grabbing choice rooted in the hosts' past clashes with the president.
- Kimmel's established summer guest-host tradition offers ABC continuity and a way to limit direct on-air risk, but the O'Donnell booking could draw renewed presidential and regulatory scrutiny and will be watched for its impact on ratings and network relations.