‘Just Keep My Head Down’: Jimmy Fallon Wants To Avoid Politics After Trump-Kimmel Battle

Jimmy Fallon does not plan on making The Tonight Show more political in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension and return to ABC, following his monologue about the man who killed Charlie Kirk.

Fallon, during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on Tuesday, said he prefers to keep his “head down” and avoid making too many jokes about Democrats and Republicans. Here is what Fallon told host Carl Quintanilla, after being asked how he was approaching his monologue and being on an FCC-licensed network like NBC:

Our show has never really been that political, you know. We hit both sides equally and try to make everybody laugh, and that’s really the way our show works. Our monologues are kind of the same that we’ve been doing since Johnny Carson was hosting the Tonight Show. So really, I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, — clever, smart writers. And we’re just trying to make the best possible show we can and entertain everybody.

His comment came the week after Kimmel returned to his ABC program.

For those who have not been following the whole ordeal, ABC and Disney suspended Kimmel on Sept. 17 for the following comment on his Sept. 15 show:

The MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

The comment led to swift pushback from Nexstar and Sinclair, which control a large chunk of ABC affiliates, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr on Sept. 17 said he felt Kimmel’s comment warranted a suspension. Hours later, Kimmel was suspended — and President Trump mocked him for having his show taken off the air.

Following all of that, ABC announced on Sept. 22 that it was lifting Kimmel’s suspension, and he returned to his program the following evening. Kimmel did not apologize for his comment about Kirk in his lengthy monologue on his first night back — which led to Kirk’s executive producer, Andrew Kolvet, blasting Kimmel for being an “unrepentant liar.”

Fallon has kept his show fairly apolitical over the last decade, especially in comparison to other late-night hosts like Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers. He has said on multiple occasions that is by design.

“It’s just what I do,” Fallon said in 2017 about political comedy. “I think it’d be weird for me to start doing it now.”

You can watch his answer above, via CNBC.