8 of the biggest scandals in late-night TV history

• Jimmy Kimmel was pulled from the air for nearly a week.
• This suspension came after Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk.
• This isn’t the first late-night TV scandal, though it might be one of the biggest.

It’s been a rough summer for fans of late-night TV.

On September 17, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was taken off the air by ABC after widespread condemnation from conservatives of Kimmel’s comments regarding the death of activist Charlie Kirk and Trump’s response to it.

After much backlash on both sides of the spectrum, Disney — which owns ABC — announced on Monday, September 22, that Kimmel’s show would return to airwaves on September 23.

Still, this isn’t the first time late-night TV has been the subject of headlines, instead of making fun of them.

We’ve chosen eight of the biggest scandals in recent late-night TV history from almost all of the major hosts, including Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and David Letterman.

Here are eight times that late-night hosts have found themselves in hot water.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was pulled off the air after Kimmel’s comments on the death of Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel, who has been hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC since 2003, was pulled off the air after the September 15 episode of his show, in which he talked about the death of Kirk, a conservative activist.

You can read a full transcript of his remarks here (or watch it on YouTube), but essentially, he took aim at the “MAGA gang” who have been saying the suspect in Kirk’s death, Tyler Robinson, wasn’t a conservative. Kimmel also critiqued Trump’s response to the death of Kirk, one of his closest allies. (Regarding Robinson’s politics, prosecutors have said his mother told authorities he had “become more political and had started to lean more to the left.”)

The next day, a firestorm began. Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, called on Disney to “take action, frankly, on Kimmel.” By Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair (two companies that own dozens of ABC affiliates) said they wouldn’t be broadcasting Kimmel.

Then, Disney itself said that the show wouldn’t be airing, and a spokesperson for ABC told Business Insider that the suspension will be in effect “indefinitely.” However, on September 22, Disney announced Kimmel would be returning to his regular time slot the next day.

Representatives for Kimmel did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Business Insider.

This wasn’t Kimmel’s first scandal, though. In 2020, he apologized on his show for previously doing blackface.

Kimmel isn’t a stranger to controversy. In June 2020, in the midst of the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Kimmel issued an apology for previously donning blackface in the ’90s during comedy sketches.

“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,” he said.

“I believe that I have evolved and matured over the last 20-plus years, and I hope that is evident to anyone who watches my show,” said Kimmel at the end of his statement. “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.”

“The Tonight Show with Stephen Colbert” was canceled, and for some, the timing was suspicious.

In July 2025, Colbert announced that CBS would be canceling “The Late Show” in 2026. While late-night television viewership is down overall, “The Late Show” is still the most-viewed talk show on TV and has been a network mainstay for over 30 years, per The Hollywood Reporter.

This announcement raised some eyebrows, especially since it came just a few days after Colbert called out Paramount (CBS’s parent company) for agreeing to pay Trump $16 million to settle his suit against “60 Minutes,” another CBS property. The suit alleged that a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris had been selectively edited to tip “the scales in favor of the Democratic party.”

Paramount said in its statement regarding the settlement that the money would go to legal fees and to Trump’s presidential library — nothing will be landing directly in Trump’s bank account. Paramount also didn’t issue an apology or any statement of regret.

However, Colbert called it “A Big Bribe” during his monologue on July 14. The show was canceled three days later.

CBS, for its part, said in a statement to The New York Times that the decision to end the show was “purely a financial” one.

Representatives for Colbert did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Still, he did address the news during an episode of his show, in which he called the people at CBS “great partners.” He thanked the network once again during his Emmys acceptance speech.

Jimmy Fallon’s 2016 interview with Donald Trump on “The Tonight Show” caused some backlash.

Back in September 2016, in the lead-up to the presidential election, Trump sat down with Fallon on “The Tonight Show.”

Fallon, who’s never been known for hard-hitting journalism on his late-night talk show, sparked widespread condemnation for being too soft on the then-candidate. Most infamously, his final question for Trump was whether Fallon could mess up his hair, which he did.

Fallon addressed the fallout in May 2017, telling The New York Times he was “devastated” by the response. “I didn’t do it to humanize him,” Fallon said. “I almost did it to minimize him.”

After Fallon expressed his regret, Trump responded on X.

Fallon “is now whimpering to all that he did the famous ‘hair show’ with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have ‘humanized’ me,” Trump wrote. He concluded his post with: “Be a man, Jimmy!”

Representatives for Fallon did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Bill Maher said a racial slur on his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher” in 2017.

In June 2017, Maher dropped the N-word during an interview with Sen. Ben Sasse on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” in which he called himself a “house n—-r” after Sasse told Maher he should work in the fields of Nebraska.

Immediately, there were calls from the viewing public for Maher to be fired.

HBO kept Maher on the air, though the network did call his comments “completely inexcusable and tasteless” in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. The network added that the remarks would be edited out of future airings.

Maher did not respond to a recent request for comment from Business Insider, but did apologize the week of the incident.

“Last night was a particularly long night, as I regret the word I used in the banter of a live moment. The word was offensive, and I regret saying it and am very sorry,” he told Variety.

In 2010, the conflict between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien regarding “The Tonight Show” dominated headlines.

For the deepest dive possible into this feud, check out Bill Carter’s 2010 book “The War for Late Night.”

Still, to put it in simplest terms: Leno had hosted “The Tonight Show” from 1992 to 2009, and upon his retirement, O’Brien took over “The Tonight Show.” However, instead of leaving TV, Leno moved to an earlier slot and began hosting “The Jay Leno Show.”

When “The Jay Leno Show” began performing poorly, NBC suggested slotting it into “The Tonight Show’s” time and pushing that show back to 12:05.

O’Brien was not happy with this decision and addressed it during a monologue.

“For 60 years, ‘The Tonight Show’ has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying ‘The Tonight Show’ into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. ‘The Tonight Show’ at 12:05 simply isn’t ‘The Tonight Show,'” said O’Brien.

After heated negotiations, Leno took back “The Tonight Show” for another four years until retiring in 2014 and passing the torch to Jimmy Fallon.

Meanwhile, O’Brien received a settlement worth between $40 and $50 million and began hosting “Conan” on TBS. The show ran for 10 years, ending in 2021.

Representatives for Leno and O’Brien didn’t respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

David Letterman admitted to cheating on his wife — and also told viewers he was being blackmailed.

On October 1, 2009, Letterman told his audience that he was being blackmailed. He also said, “I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.” He had married his longtime partner, Regina Lasko, just seven months prior.

Per Vanity Fair, CBS producer Robert Halderman discovered Letterman was having an affair with Stephanie Birkitt — who just happened to be Halderman’s girlfriend — in December 2008.

After finding this out, Halderman wrote a screenplay based on the workplace at “The Late Show,” and said that Letterman had to buy it for $2 million, or else Halderman would go public about numerous relationships Letterman had with female staffers.

Letterman worked with the New York County district attorney to catch Halderman trying to cash a fake $2 million check on September 30, at which point the news broke.

Halderman later pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and served four months behind bars. At a post-sentencing press conference, Halderman apologized to Birkitt and Letterman, and said he felt “great remorse for what I’ve done,” according to ABC News.

A representative for Letterman declined to comment, though he said on his show at the time, “The matter was resolved today. It was handled professionally, skillfully, and appropriately.”

After getting barred from an NYC hot spot, James Corden apologized to restaurant owner Keith McNally during “The Late Late Show.”

This might not seem like a huge deal by comparison, but for a few weeks in October 2022, this beef captivated the internet.

McNally, the owner of celebrity favorite Balthazar, criticized Corden in a scathing Instagram post. He called him “a hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny cretin of a man” and said Corden was the “most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” He also barred him from the French eatery, located in New York City.

Corden apologized on “The Late Late Show” a few days later.

“Because I didn’t shout or scream, I didn’t get up out of my seat, I didn’t call anyone names or use derogatory language, I have been walking around thinking that I hadn’t done anything wrong, right? But the truth is I have. I made a rude comment, and it was wrong,” Corden said. “It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server.”

McNally responded by lifting the ban, writing on Instagram, “James Corden very graciously apologized for his outburst at Balthazar. It takes a real man to do this.”

He continued, “For this reason, I’m going to lift the ban on Corden and impose one on myself instead. I’m going to ban myself from Balthazar for 2 weeks.”

Representatives for Corden did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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