Before Jimmy Kimmel hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he was the co-host of The Man Show. After his DJ career, he and Adam Carolla originally pitched the show to ABC, but they rightfully rejected it. The Man Show instead aired on Comedy Central from 1999 until 2003, when Kimmel left.
In this show, he sexually harassed women and performed blackface. One segment, entitled “What’s in My Pants?”, features Kimmel walking around Los Angeles, asking women to feel around and find the non-existent item hidden in his pants. In another recurring segment, he put on blackface and imitated NBA player Karl Malone and TV personality Oprah Winfrey. His piggish actions should have resulted in his being removed from the air.
Kimmel did apologize for using blackface in 2020, but he still has not apologized for the horrid ways he treated women. In the article, “Jimmy Kimmel on Not Pushing Kanye West to Defend Trump: ‘His Silence Answered the Question’” by The Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel said, “‘That show was always tongue-in-cheek, […] some people enjoyed it for the wrong reasons.’” He added that “‘it was a show that people liked and we had fun doing it and I learned a lot doing it.’”
When Jimmy Kimmel presented his idea of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to ABC, he should have been denied the opportunity to host. His actions on The Man Show are inexcusable, and he should be held responsible until an apology is made.
