Jimmy Kimmel had his show indefinitely pulled off of the air by ABC on Wednesday because of some remarks he made about the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, and one theory is that a familiar face from the sports world could take the late-night talk show host’s place.
After ABC announced that Kimmel has been sidelined, Jason Whitlock of Blaze Media predicted that Stephen A. Smith will become the network’s next late-night talk show host. Whitlock believes that cancelling Kimmel is part of Disney-owned ABC’s plan to prepare Smith to run for president of the United States.
Whitlock also thinks the timing of longtime “First Take” host Molly Qerim’s abrupt departure from ESPN is not a coincidence.
“Molly Qerim’s abrupt departure from First Take now makes sense. Prepare yourself for fraudulent, middle-of-the-road guy Stephen A Smith to replace Jimmy Kimmel. MAGA influencers will celebrate this as a huge win because they’ll now be invited on late-night TV to continue the Stephen A sales job,” Whitlock wrote on X. “We’re in the final stages of prepping Stephen A for his presidential run. Everybody’s in on it. Bob Iger is a master chess player. This manufactured controversy around Kimmel blaming MAGA for Charlie Kirk’s murder is not worthy of this overreaction from ABC. This is all part of the grooming process.”
Molly Qerim's abrupt departure from First Take now makes sense. Prepare yourself for fraudulent, middle-of-the-road guy Stephen A Smith to replace Jimmy Kimmel. MAGA influencers will celebrate this as a huge win because they'll now be invited on late-night TV to continue the… https://t.co/W2RgyqRPQc
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) September 17, 2025
ESPN and ABC are both owned by Disney, which is viewed as a liberal-leaning corporation. There has been talk for years about Smith running for president, and he has made some noteworthy comments about it in the past.
Smith signed a new five-year, $105 million contract with ESPN earlier this year. He also has a three-year, $36 million deal with SiriusXM, where he hosts “The Stephen A. Smith Show” and a new political talk show called “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.” that debuted on Wednesday.
Smith’s new contract with ESPN calls for him to maintain a full-time role on “First Take,” but it also gives him the flexibility to delve more into politics. Whitlock believes everything that has happened with Smith in recent months is directly related to Kimmel potentially being pushed out altogether by ABC.
The big question, of course, is whether the 57-year-old Smith would want to walk away from the massive sum of money he currently makes to pursue a presidential run.
