Jimmy Kimmel has defended Stephen Colbert after his show was canceled by CBS, saying there’s ‘no chance in hell’ that The Late Show was losing $40M a year.

TV personality Jimmy Kimmel has dismissed claims that Stephen Colbert’s Late Show was costing CBS $40 million annually before its cancellation.

In a recent interview with Variety, Kimmel staunchly defended his fellow late-night host, stating there’s not a “snowball’s chance in hell” that Colbert’s show was causing such a financial drain on CBS prior to its termination. Kimmel argued that these reports fail to consider multiple revenue streams beyond traditional broadcast advertising.

Kimmel stated: “I just want to say that the idea that Stephen Colbert’s show was losing $40 million a year is beyond nonsensical. These alleged insiders who supposedly analyze the budgets of the shows – I don’t know who they are, but I do know they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

He added: “They seem to only be focused on advertising revenue and have completely forgotten about affiliate fees, which number in the hundreds of millions – probably in total billions – and you must allocate a certain percentage of those fees to late-night shows.”

Kimmel further expressed his surprise at the media’s lack of understanding of their own industry. He said: “There’s just not a snowball’s chance in hell that that’s anywhere near accurate. Even that – that’s all you need to know. Suddenly, he’s losing $40 million a year?”

“I will tell you, the first 10 years I did the show, they claimed we weren’t making any money – and we had five times as many viewers on ABC as we do now. Who knows what’s true? All I know is they keep paying us – and that’s kind of all you need to know,” he stated.

Kimmel acknowledged that network audiences are dwindling, but refuted the notion that late-night is a “rotting corpse,” a term he believes the media uses to describe the genre.

“I think if you really look at how people are watching these shows, and the numbers, it’s right up there with the top shows on Netflix and Hulu,” he argued.

“Yet in the media, you’d think this is a rotting corpse – which it most certainly is not. It just doesn’t add up. It’s a great storyline for the press, but it’s simply not true,” Kimmel asserted. Kimmel also mentioned that he’ll be casting his vote for Colbert at this year’s Emmys.

The cancellation of the Late Show followed Paramount (parent company of CBS) settling a lawsuit from Trump, an event Colbert lampooned on his show. A merger between Paramount and Skydance was greenlit shortly after Colbert’s show was axed.

Kimmel has no intention of toning down his criticism of the president, maintaining that the nation is increasingly aligning with his viewpoint. He pointed to Trump receiving some boos at a recent WWE event as evidence.

That moment, Kimmel said, truly “cheered” him up. “I saw him [Trump] get booed at the WWE event the other night, and it really cheered me up,” he said. “Like, you know what? If Trump is getting booed at wrestling, America is starting to catch on.”