Updated

Updated · Variety · Aug 17

Rosie O’Donnell Guest-Hosts 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' for 1 Week as She Blasts Ellison's $111 Billion CNN Bid

Updated

Updated · Variety · Aug 17

Rosie O’Donnell Guest-Hosts 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' for 1 Week as She Blasts Ellison's $111 Billion CNN Bid

Q: How did a shared moment of grief transform Rosie O'Donnell and Jimmy Kimmel from adversaries into unexpected late-night collaborators?

A brief exchange after a family death appears to have softened a long-cool relationship and opened the door to this collaboration. O’Donnell said she and Kimmel had never been close and at times had an “adversarial” relationship. They had not spoken by phone and had only limited contact through occasional texts and social settings. The turning point, she said, came after the death of Kimmel’s uncle, Frank Potenza, a longtime comic presence on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” O’Donnell reached out to offer condolences, and Kimmel responded. That small act of sympathy seems to have replaced distance with a measure of mutual respect. O’Donnell told Variety that when her publicist later relayed Kimmel’s invitation to guest-host the show, she was shocked because she had “never even been a guest.” She accepted, she said, once she was sure the offer was real, adding that she was “surprised” and “very thankful.” The booking was then reinforced by shared professional values. O’Donnell said she wanted to support Kimmel and other late-night hosts defending free expression and to stand with the comedy community during a period of pressure on TV satire. In that sense, the moment of grief did not by itself create a friendship, but it did establish a human connection that made an unexpected partnership possible.

3 articles · Updated · Variety · Aug 17

Aug. 17 marks Rosie O’Donnell’s return to the talk-show desk as she guest-hosts “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for a week while Jimmy Kimmel is on vacation.
Kimmel framed the booking as “a special treat” for Donald Trump, extending a feud that began about 20 years ago after O’Donnell mocked his bankruptcies on “The View.”
O’Donnell said the offer surprised her because she had never even appeared as a guest on Kimmel’s show and had viewed their relationship as adversarial until they connected after his uncle Frank Potenza’s death.
Support for late-night hosts also drove her decision: she said she backs Kimmel’s free-speech stance and argued Stephen Colbert should not have lost “The Late Show.”
O’Donnell also attacked David Ellison’s pending $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, warning CNN could face a rightward shift like the one she says hit CBS News and “60 Minutes.”