Rosie O’Donnell tried to use Epstein victims as tools to run a segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live! attacking President Trump. ABC saw what she was doing, and it wasn’t funny. It was activism. So they wisely killed the segment. She said today the network blocked her “Epstein reveal” on her last guest-host night in August. She still shot eight women herself and posted it on Instagram on September 3. Kimmel already wrecked the hour with politics. ABC didn’t want it worse.
Survivors deserve a court, a committee, or a straight interview. They don’t exist to give a guest host a closing monologue. Putting them on Kimmel was going to land as a swipe at Trump, not as reporting. Late-night is not a prosecutor’s office. ABC owns the rundown. O’Donnell doesn’t. She got the clip out on her own page. That doesn’t make the network the villain. It makes the network a company that already watched Kimmel run the audience off and didn’t want one more campaign stop in the last slot.
If the files matter, try them in court. Don’t dress a political attack as courage and then yell when a comedy show says no. ABC said no. That’s the job. Keep the victims out of the ratings fight.