Ex-Jimmy Kimmel Writer Accuses Show of Homophobia, Sexism
The "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show has been broadcasting on air for 17 years now. Aside from the famous comedian being the main man of the show, the program is also known for conducting fun interviews with the biggest names in Hollywood, music industry, and even political personalities.
For the past decade and a half, the talk show is received well by the audience, which made it a regular late-night program on ABC.
But on Monday, a former member of the show's pool of writers took to Twitter to expose the alleged dark and homophobic culture of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and the host itself, who favors male workers than female.
Homophobic Culture
In a Twitter thread using an "anonymous account," former ABC writer Jack Allison started the exposé by revealing the homophobic culture of the people working for the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show.
"For me, it kinda feels like news if the gay presidential candidate hosts a show where the writers were saying "f*ggot" openly in the writers' room until they hired a gay writer. In 2015," Jack wrote.
For me it kinda feels like news if the gay presidential candidate hosts a show where the writers were saying “f*ggot” openly in the writers room until they hired a gay writer. In 2015 — anonymous account (@jackallisonLOL) March 9, 2020
The former writer's revelation came after he learned that former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg would be a guest host in the show.
He believes that it is a big deal since Mayor Pete is an openly gay man and the staff has a history of discriminating homosexuals behind-the-scene.
Mental Health-Shaming Workplace
In a separate Tweet, Jack claimed how the other staff excluded him or made him feel left out when he filed a mental health leave in the past. Allison said that the 52-year-old veteran host also revealed to him that his co-workers did not believe his mental health reasons for going on vacation.
The former writer also posted an alleged screen capture of the email sent by Kimmel himself explaining how the other staff is not convinced with his mental health breakdown.
"Some in the ranks were angry at you for using depression as an exaggerated excuse to save your job and for taking advantage of my nature," Kimmel was allegedly quoted in the email.
I had a mental breakdown at @JimmyKimmelLive and took one single day off for mental health. Then I was ostracized for nearly a year before I quit. Later, Jimmy told me on email that my bosses (including his wife) pushes me out because they didn’t believe me about my mental health — anonymous account (@jackallisonLOL) March 9, 2020
Here’s jimmy on record saying the staff of the show didn’t believe me about my mental health struggles because I had the audacity to stand with the writers and tried not to be embarrassed when I came in after a day of literally contemplating suicide pic.twitter.com/qa2cjMonzC — anonymous account (@jackallisonLOL) March 9, 2020
Biased Gender-Based Compensation
In another Tweet, Jack shared how Kimmel allegedly shamed him for openly telling a female co-worker that she is being paid $1000 (per week) less than how much he is earning when they are clearly doing the same thing.
"When I gave you a raise and a good deal of praises and asked you to keep it between us, you did the opposite," Kimmel wrote based on the screenshot of an email Jack claimed the host sent from June 2018.
"Not only did you violate my trust, you made others feel bad about themselves."
Here’s @jimmykimmel shaming me for the time I told a female coworker she was being paid $1000 per week less than me for the same work pic.twitter.com/y0wdQd6cum — anonymous account (@jackallisonLOL) March 9, 2020
Twitter's Reaction
While social media users were surprised by Jack's revelations, he also earned praises for having the guts to speak up and expose some disgusting truth about the show.
In a follow-up Tweet, the ex-writer confessed that going on full "real talk" about the show's culture messes him up. He also expressed gratitude to the kind messages sent by other Twitter users.
"I gotta be honest that talking about the Kimmel stuff really does fuck me up. I really appreciate all the kind messages," Jack wrote.
