Jimmy Kimmel Is Uncancelable

On March 10, Jimmy Kimmel will host the Academy Awards for a fourth time, joining an elite club of comedy legends.

The late-night talk-show host joins Jack Lemmon and Whoopi Goldberg, who each fronted the show four times, and snaps at the heels of some of the greatest do it: Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal, who hosted the Oscars five and nine times, respectively. Bob Hope holds the record with 19 host appearances.

There's no doubt Kimmel is one of the most popular figures in Hollywood, thanks to his role on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which he has led for the past 21 years.

Kimmel earns $15 million a year in that role, which has helped contribute to his estimated worth of $50 million, Celebrity Net Worth reports.

"I still feel like the altar boy who is goofing on the priest," he told the Los Angeles Times in February. "I think that most people always think of themselves the way they have always thought of themselves. I'm as surprised as anyone could be in this position—even to have a really good job is a surprise to me."

The 56-year-old now holds the record for longest-running late-night host, surpassing icons such as David Letterman and Carson. But his career has not been without its controversies.

Kimmel has worn blackface, joked about Hollywood's sexualization of a teenage Megan Fox, and sparked boycotts among the Chinese and Chinese American communities over comments made on his show. It's a wonder his career has survived, let alone thrived.

Newsweek has contacted Kimmel's publicists for comment via email.

In 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, Kimmel apologized for having performed in blackface and using the n-word.

"I have long been reluctant to address this, as I knew doing so would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us," he said in a statement at the time. "That delay was a mistake. There is nothing more important to me than your respect, and I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke."

"Looking back, many of these sketches are embarrassing, and it is frustrating that these thoughtless moments have become a weapon used by some to diminish my criticisms of social and other injustices," Kimmel wrote. "I believe that I have evolved and matured over the last twenty-plus years, and I hope that is evident to anyone who watches my show. I know that this will not be the last I hear of this and that it will be used again to try to quiet me. I love this country too much to allow that."

Kimmel was also accused of racism by fans of the K-pop group BTS after comparing the group to the COVID-19 virus. And there was the 2013 sketch that drew the ire of China and prompted calls for Kimmel to be fired.

In the segment, called "Kids Table," Kimmel sat with children to discuss the U.S. government's shutdown and debts. When one child suggested "killing all the people in China" as a way to resolve the debt, the host replied, "That's an interesting idea." He then followed up with the question, "Should we allow the Chinese to live?"

His comments triggered protests, and he addressed the backlash on his show.

"I thought it was obvious that I didn't agree with that statement, but apparently it wasn't," he said in October of that year, adding, "So I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I apologize."

Kimmel has also faced accusations of misogyny in his past work on The Man Show and of being disrespectful to his guests, such as Joaquin Phoenix. Then there was the infamous Emmys controversy, when he was accused of stealing the limelight from Quinta Brunson after her historic win. Kimmel later apologized to Brunson and invited her onto his show.

Despite all these controversies, which may have made other stars outcasts, Kimmel has managed to avoid being canceled.

"I don't think Jimmy Kimmel is alone. Comedy has long provided an alibi for men to say offensive things that would be unconscionable in any other context," Hannah Yelin, a media and culture academic at Oxford Brookes University in the U.K., told Newsweek.

She continued: "The format of the talk show, in particular, enables the host to create a universe according to their own norms, and through repetition and familiarity, audiences accept those parameters for the accepted tone of conversation.

"They're expected to be close to the bone and outrageous and are afforded license when they are perceived as accidentally overstepping the mark."

She said it is "entirely consistent with the way they have fostered the conditions in which they can punch down with impunity."

"Fans are invested in not seeing what's problematic about it, and positioning those who do as oversensitive, pearl-clutching, in the grips of moral panic, or as a humorless killjoy who doesn't get the joke," Yelin added.

Kimmel also has the additional "insurance policy" of being a big moneymaker for ABC, said Ryan McCormick, a co-founder of the Goldman McCormick PR firm.

McCormick told Newsweek that Kimmel was "fireproof because, despite some of his controversial past antics, he doesn't buck any norms of the Hollywood machine."

He continued: "Kimmel won't attack or call out the industry even under circumstances where a majority of people would.

"He provides too much value to the people he serves, and he's therefore protected. If a Harvey Weinstein–type incident about him were to one day emerge, I think that would be the only thing remotely capable of canceling him."