“They warned him to play it safe, but he went for blood” – Jimmy Kimmel RETURNS with viral fury, torching JD Vance with a savage nickname that left audiences gasping, executives scrambling, and the late-night battlefield more explosive than anyone thought possible

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t just step back onto television – he stormed in with fire. His much-anticipated return turned into a cultural flashpoint when he unleashed a brutal new nickname for JD Vance, a line so stinging it ricocheted across social media within minutes. The audience roared, but the fallout was immediate. Critics accused Kimmel of crossing the line, while supporters hailed it as the kind of fearless comedy late-night has been missing. Even insiders at his own network were reportedly caught off guard, whispering about how far the host might push boundaries now that his reach spans every channel again.

So was this Kimmel’s triumphant re-entry into the spotlight, or the beginning of another storm that could consume him? To discover the full story behind the nickname, the reaction inside ABC, and why it may reshape the late-night war, check out the complete breakdown now.

Jimmy Kimmel isn’t easing up on his attacks on Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump as he kicks off a week-long string of shows in Brooklyn, N.Y.

On Monday, Sept. 29, the 57-year-old late-night host took the stage at the Howard Gilman Opera House at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a taping of his show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The episode was only the second to air on all stations across the United States after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended by Disney and pulled from stations by major broadcast companies on Sept. 17. Although the suspension was lifted on Sept. 22, broadcast companies Nexstar and Sinclair opted to continue their preemption of the show until Friday, Sept. 26.

During his opening monologue, Kimmel addressed the companies airing his show again. In the process, he skewered Vance over some comments that the vice president made about the comedian’s popularity and ratings.

“Vice President Maybelline was making the rounds, attempting to defend his boss and the chairman of the FCC with a new fairytale even a 5-year-old wouldn’t believe,” Kimmel said before playing a segment of an interview that Vance sat for with Laura Ingraham on Fox News.

In it, the vice president attempted to write off allegations that Federal Communications Commission chairperson Brendan Carr and Trump used their powers to get Kimmel’s show suspended after comments that the host made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk went viral.

“I’d like them to tell me exactly what Brendan Carr did to have Jimmy Kimmel taken off air because number one, he is currently on the air. And to the extent that he isn’t in certain stations, it’s because he’s not funny, because his ratings aren’t very good,” Vance opined.

In response, Kimmel braggingly declared that his show had been picked back up by Nexstar and Sinclair, meaning that it will now air again across the United States.

“I have some good news for you, J Dog,” he taunted, adding, “We’re back on all the stations at every home, every bar, every strip club and every prison in America.”

Cutting back to Vance’s interview, the vice president again reiterated his opinion that Kimmel was taken off the air “because advertisers don’t like him because his ratings aren’t very good.”

“My ratings aren’t very good!?” Kimmel replied as members in the audience audibly booed the remark. “Last time I checked, your ratings are somewhere between a hair in your salad and chlamydia.”

Kimmel continued, saying, “In three and a half years, I’m not the one who’s going to be doing mascara tutorials on YouTube. How did we wind up with a president and a vice president who wear more makeup than Kylie Jenner and Lady Gaga combined?”

Earlier in his monologue, Kimmel slammed Trump for his decision to declassify records about Amelia Earhart’s disappearance amid ongoing calls to release the Epstein files.

“The president has been hard at work coming up with all sorts of nonsense to distract us from the Epstein files,” he declared, adding, “Unless her final flight was to Epstein’s island, no one cares.”