WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Rosie O’Donnell claimed ABC abruptly paused her Trump mocking “Donny Boy” sketch shortly before filming began.
- ABC later filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of conducting a “retaliatory campaign” through an accelerated FCC license review.
- O’Donnell’s representative said Jimmy Kimmel, not ABC executives, advised her to put a proposed Epstein survivors segment on YouTube.
- O’Donnell said she deliberately softened her attacks on Trump while hosting because Kimmel had “stuck his neck out” for her.
Rosie O’Donnell claimed ABC abruptly blocked a sketch mocking President Trump during her stint hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” because the network was preparing to take his administration to court, as reported by The New York Post.
The comedian discussed the alleged interference during an appearance on “The Jann Arden Podcast” earlier this month.
O’Donnell, the former daytime talk show host and “A League of Their Own” actor, moved to Ireland after Trump won the 2024 election.
She spent one week filling in for Jimmy Kimmel and repeatedly targeted the president, although she said she deliberately restrained her approach.
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The comedian planned to perform her “Donny Boy” sketch on April 17, her first night hosting the program. The routine played off the Irish folk song “Danny Boy” and was intended as a jab at Trump.
O’Donnell said the decision arrived just before filming began.
“The network called and said, ‘We don’t want you to do it.’”
The sudden change left her scrambling to replace material that had already been planned for the show.
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“Now I had five minutes to prepare a different monologue,” O’Donnell said, adding that network executives did not explain why they had paused the sketch.
O’Donnell said the reason became clearer afterward. “Well, the next day we found out why,” she said.
“The next day when I woke up, I went, now I understand.”
On Aug. 18, Disney-owned ABC filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission. The legal action escalated a months-long clash with the government, with ABC accusing the Trump administration of conducting a “retaliatory campaign.”
O’Donnell said she would have accepted the delay more easily if executives had offered even a limited explanation.
“Had they said to me, ‘There’s something coming down corporately tomorrow, and we would prefer you waited,’ I just would have waited without being so, ‘What’s happening, what’s happening?’” she said.
The “Donny Boy” segment was not permanently shelved. It aired later during her week on the show, with O’Donnell dedicating the sardonic song to a “very special boy.”
ABC did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. A representative for Kimmel also did not immediately respond.
O’Donnell further claimed she wanted to end her final night as guest host with a segment involving victims of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to O’Donnell, “they said that they were certain that could not happen.”
Her representative, Cindi Berger, offered a different account of that discussion.
Berger told The Post that O’Donnell spoke with Kimmel about the proposed Epstein segment before hosting and that the conversation did not involve ABC executives.
“Rosie had a conversation with Jimmy before she guest-hosted for him,” Berger said.
“She shared her idea about the Epstein survivors, and he told her it would be best for her to do it on YouTube. And she did. She had a great time hosting, loves Jimmy and the show.”
ABC’s lawsuit followed FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s decision to begin reviewing eight Disney television licenses one year early. Those licenses included ABC channels in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Carr said the accelerated review resulted from ABC’s refusal to cooperate with a separate investigation into whether the network continued using DEI policies opposed by the Trump administration.
Earlier this month, the FCC asked a court to dismiss ABC’s lawsuit, while ABC requested last week that the court reject that effort.
ABC alleged that the early review sought to silence left-leaning programs, including Kimmel’s late-night show and “The View.”
Carr repeatedly denied that claim, saying the license review concerned the obligation of broadcast networks to “operate in the public interest,” rather than free speech.
During the podcast, O’Donnell also criticized ABC and CBS over settlement payments to Trump, accusing both companies of bowing to his administration.
ABC agreed to pay Trump $16 million in 2024 to settle a defamation lawsuit involving George Stephanopoulos’ false on-air statement that Trump had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not rape.
O’Donnell, who has publicly sparred with Trump for about two decades, said she moderated her attacks because Kimmel had “stuck his neck out” by inviting her to host.
“I made an active choice to approach Trump the way that I did and not aggressively like a pitbull, which scares some people,” she said.
O’Donnell added, “I didn’t have my glasses on on purpose. I had contacts in, and I think it reminded people, ‘Oh, remember, we like her.’”
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