He did say her comments were “indefensible” but called for people to treat her with “compassion.”
On May 29, 2018, Jimmy Kimmel said on his late night show that ABC was right to fire Roseanne Barr from her television sitcom for racist comments in a social post: “And ABC, to their credit, didn’t waste any time; they canceled her show today. I’m not a fan of censorship, but this wasn’t about free speech — it was about consequences for saying something vile. You can say what you want, but networks don’t have to pay you to say it. …You can’t just blame Ambien for that. Actions have consequences, and ABC made the right call.”
Context
Kimmel did joke about Roseanne Barr’s firing, saying her post did not “sit well with ABC management or anyone with a brain.” He also suggested an alternative version of Barr’s sitcom without her being part of it. In a tweet, Kimmel both condemned Barr’s post while also asking people to treat her with “compassion.”
In September 2025, a claim circulated online after ABC and parent company The Walt Disney Co. indefinitely suspended comedian and television host Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” due to his jokes about the response of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to the Sept. 10 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Many online claimed Kimmel had openly supported the 2018 firing of comedian Roseanne Barr from her television sitcom “Roseanne” after she made a racist social media post.
On Sept. 22, The Walt Disney Co. announced that the comedian’s show would be returning to the network the following day (archived).
According to numerous Instagram posts and blogs, Kimmel allegedly called Barr’s firing the “right thing” and supported the action. Readers sent Snopes numerous questions asking for his real response to the 2018 firing, and sent us a meme alleging he said the following on May 29, 2018:
And ABC, to their credit, didn’t waste any time; they canceled her show today. I’m not a fan of censorship but this wasn’t about free speech…it was about consequences for saying something vile. You can say what you want, but networks don’t have to pay you to say it… You can’t just blame Ambien for that. Actions have consequences, and ABC made the right call.
(Threads user “kimberly.doss2”)
Kimmel did not make the above statement, however. Rather, he joked about the firing on his show and offered an alternative vision of Barr’s sitcom. In a post on X, he called Barr’s comments “indefensible” but also called for “compassion” for her. As such we rate this claim as false.
The rumor refers to the May 28, 2018, barb Barr made against Valerie Jarrett, a former aide to former U.S. President Barack Obama, resulting in ABC pulling the plug on “Roseanne.”
We searched for varied sections of the purported Kimmel quote above and found no authentic footage or news reports of him making the above statement, though he did comment on Barr’s firing in 2018. Were the comment above real, it would have been widely covered by reputable news outlets.
On May 29, 2018, Kimmel did comment and joke about the firing on his late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He said:
You’re not going to believe this but [Barr] tweeted something outrageous. I know, yeah, right. The president [Trump] did it too. It’s crazy. Anyway, ABC decided to cancel their highest rated show “Roseanne” following a tweet in which Roseanne compared an African-American woman, a former advisor to President Obama, to an ape, which did not sit well with ABC management or anyone with a brain. They announced this first season of the show is also its last. Which is a huge blow to — I mean we don’t have much on this network. We’re hoping the NBA finals goes 11 games this year. We’re still airing “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” okay. Roseanne was a bigly hit for ABC and we need it. Hear me out. Just because Roseanne is gone, doesn’t mean the show has to go. The show must go on, that’s what we say in show business. And with that said, I have an idea I think makes this work for everyone.
Kimmel then aired an edited version of the show that focused on Dan, another central character in “Roseanne.” The full clip can be seen below:
In a post on his verified X account, Kimmel did both criticize Barr’s post but also called for compassion. He stated: “What [Barr] said is indefensible, but angrily attacking a woman who is obviously not well does no good for anyone. Please take a breath and remember that mental health issues are real. The Roseanne I know could probably use some compassion and help right now.”
As seen in the above comments, Kimmel did not state outright that ABC was right to cancel the show, but he did joke about it and also opposed all the attacks on Barr.
In response to ABC pulling Kimmel’s show off the air, Barr wrote on X: “Yeah imagine an administration putting pressure on a television channel to fire a comedian they didn’t like.” However, Barr was fired in 2018, when Trump, whom she supporte, was president.
Upon lifting Kimmel’s suspension in 2025, The Walt Disney Co. said: “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production [of Jimmy Kimmel Live!] to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.
“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
We have previously covered the satirical news that ABC fired Kimmel as host of the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
