Jimmy Kimmel Live! won't air this week: Heartbreaking reason

Jimmy Kimmel Live! will not air new episodes this week due to a heartbreaking reason.

Jimmy Kimmel put his tonight show on pause to grieve the loss of his close friend and longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III, otherwise known as Cleto Jr.

The emotional host announced the break as he closed out the monologue on Tuesday night, November 11, urging everyone to treasure the time with their friends and loved ones, "Cherish your friends, we’re not here forever."

The night’s episode featured Eddie Murphy, who appeared to promote his new Netflix documentary Being Eddie, and Morgan Fairchild.

"Thank you for indulging me, we’re going to take the next couple of nights off," Kimmel shared after paying an emotional tribute to his late childhood friend.

"I wanted to be here tonight to tell you about my friend and Cleto loved Eddie Murphy and he wouldn’t have wanted us to miss this," he explained.

At the beginning of the show, the 50-year-old host told the audience, "We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way."

"But this will…" he tried to speak before breaking down in tears. "This one’s the hardest," Kimmel continued with his voice trembling. "Late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special, someone far too young to go."

Due to the brief hiatus, several guests originally scheduled to appear this week will be rescheduled for future episodes.

The lineup includes Danny DeVito, Howard Jones, and Debbie Gibson on Wednesday’s show, and Jason Bateman, Mr. T, and Susanna Hoffs on Thursday.

Notably, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was recently suspended by ABC in September 2025 due to controversial comments he made regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the reaction from Donald Trump and his supporters.