Jimmy Kimmel

About

Jimmy Kimmel is an American comedian and actor who is best known as a co-host of Comedy Central’s The Man Show and the host of ABC’s late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The comedian has been credited with producing a number of viral videos and recurring segments that involve audience participation through social media channels.

Online History

On January 16th, 2009, the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel was launched. In the first five years, the channel gathered more than 3.43 million subscribers and 789,000 video views. On March 2nd, 2010, Kimmel arranged a meeting between Cody, then a three-year-old Justin Bieber fan whose crying video had gone viral earlier that week, and the pop star himself (shown below, left). In the next four years, the clip gained upwards of 52.9 million views and 84,000 comments. On June 18th, Kimmel released a music video for the comedy song “Channing All Over Your Tatum” (shown below, right), garnering 12.7 million views and 16,000 comments in the following five months.

Social Media Presence

On December 8th, 2009, the official Jimmy Kimmel Live Facebook^[1] page was launched, garnering upwards of 630,000 likes in the first four years. As of November 2013, the @JimmyKimmel Twitter^[2] feed has accumulated over 3.2 million followers.

Highlights

I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy

On November 2nd, 2011, the channel uploaded a montage of fan-filmed videos of parents fooling their children into thinking they ate all their Halloween candy (shown below). Within two years, the video accumulated over 45 million views and 66,000 comments.

I Gave My Kids a Terrible Present

On December 12th, 2011, the channel featured a montage of fan-filmed footage in which parents give their children undesirable presents (shown below), gathering more than 26 million views and 27,400 comments in the following 23 months. On March 22nd, 2012, Kimmel introduced a segment with various celebrities reading aloud insulting tweets directed at them (shown below, right). Within the first 20 months, the video gained upwards of 12 million views and 7,400 comments.

Celebrities Read Mean Tweets

On March 22nd, 2012, Kimmel introduced a segment with various celebrities reading aloud insulting tweets directed at them (shown below). Within the first 20 months, the video gained upwards of 12 million views and 7,400 comments.

Lie Witness News

On April 23rd, 2013, Kimmel aired an episode of the segment “Lie Witness News,” in which attendees at the music festival Coachella were asked what they thought about bands that do not exist (shown below). In the next seven months, the video received over 12.5 million views and 9,100 comments.

Twerk Fail Hoax

On September 3rd, 2013, YouTuber Caitlin Heller uploaded a video titled “Worst Twerk Fail Ever – Girl Catches Fire!”, in which a young woman’s pants appear to catch fire after being knocked over while performing a twerk dance move (shown below, left). Within 13 weeks, the video received over 14 million views and 22,300 comments. On September 9th, Kimmel revealed that the video was a hoax orchestrated by the talk show (shown below, right).

Controversies

Feud With Kanye West

In September of 2013, Kimmel participated in a feud with rapper Kanye West after mocking a BBCRadio 1 interview with the performer (shown below, left) along with a clip of two children parodying the video (shown below, right).

China Genocide Skit

On October 16th, 2013, a segment titled “Kids’ Table” aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in which a child suggested that the United States “kill everyone in China” in order to solve its debt problem (shown below).

On October 19th, a petition was created on the White House’s We the People^[6] website calling for the Obama administration to shutdown the show (shown below, left). On the following day, another petition was created on the website Change.org^[5] calling for ABC to terminate Kimmel’s employment (shown below, right).

On October 28th, ABC an official apology for the statement:

“We offer our sincere apology. We would never purposefully broadcast anything to upset the Chinese community, Asian community, anyone of Chinese descent or any community at large. Our objective is to entertain. We took swift action to minimize the distribution of the skit by removing it from all public platforms available to us and editing it out of any future airings of the show. We hope our actions and our apology effectively address your concerns. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

On November 1st, Kimmel released an apology letter^[4] claiming he did not intend to upset anyone for the “Kids’ Table” segment, noting that the comment was unscripted and made by a six-year-old child. On November 8th, ABC^[3] issued another apology for the segment, claiming that the television station’s systems “did not function properly” and that they had taken steps to avoid similar mistakes. On the following day, hundreds of protesters reportedly gathered at ABC Studios in several locations in the United States, calling for ABC to fire Kimmel and holding signs containing a photoshopped picture of the talk show host as deceased German dictator Adolf Hitler (shown below).

Search Interest

External References