'I'm Not One-Sided': ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Eyeing Jimmy Kimmel Takeover, Claims Late-Night Has Gotten Soft
Stephen A. Smith is ready to jump ship from the sports world. The ESPN commentator wants to be the next Jimmy Kimmel but less soft, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The First Take host, 55, revealed his late-night aspirations to Sean Hannity on Fox News.
According to Smith, last-night television has gotten too one-sided. He claimed he'd bring a completely different outlook if he landed the job as one of the five primary nighttime hosts.
“I am interested in doing late night,” he said earlier this week. The sports guy isn't short on confidence.
“I would love to be the heir apparent to Jimmy Kimmel. I believe I could do it," he told Hannity, adding his political stance would throw a wrench in the late-night game.
"I would throw everybody for a loop, my politics would throw people off because I’d be fair to everybody and I’d listen to everybody. It wouldn’t be one-sided, I’m not a one-sided kind of guy. I’m one-sided on issues, I’m not one-sided on ideology," Smith insisted.
Arguing that nighttime television has gotten extremely left-leaning, Smith claimed he'd be fair and down the middle with his guests.
“It should be a problem because the reality of the situation is there’s more than 350 million Americans in this country and at least 170-180 million think conservatively like Sean Hannity, OK? We understand that, and whether you like it or not, that’s their reality,” he explained.
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While Smith's hopeful to add late-night to his resume, if he wants Kimmel's job, he'll have to wait. He recently signed a three-year deal with ABC — meaning Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be on the air into the 2025-26 season.
“After two decades at ABC, I am now looking forward to three years of what they call ‘quiet quitting,’” Kimmel said while revealing the news in September.
While Kimmel's position will be hard to come by, James Corden's position is up for grabs. Last year, he announced he was walking away from The Late Late Show with James Corden and moving back to the U.K.
Corden's run will continue until the end of the 2023 season.
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