ABC’s late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel has made Trump bashing a central part of his TV persona. Now he has publicly admitted that his decision has cost him “half of my fans — maybe more than that.”

In an interview this week with the Naked Lunch podcast, Jimmy Kimmel portrayed himself as a rebel, claiming he defied  network bosses who hinted that trashing tens of millions of potential viewers might not be a good idea.

“There was at one time, maybe, I don’t know like right around the beginning of this whole like Trump thing where … that was kind of hinted at,” Kimmel said. “But I just said, ‘Listen, I get it. I don’t disagree. I mean, you’re right.’”

As a result, Kimmel said he has lost a good chunk of his fanbase.

“I have lost half of my fans — maybe more than that,” he said. “Ten years ago, among Republicans, I was the most popular talk show host, at least according to the research that they did.”

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Kimmel continued: “I just said, if that’s what you want to do, I understand and I don’t begrudge you for it, but I’m not going to do that. So if you want somebody else to host the show, then that’s fine. That’s OK with me. I’m just not going to do it like that.”

“They knew I was serious,” Kimmel said. “I just I couldn’t live with myself.”

This isn’t the first time Kimmel has expressed his willingness to lose millions of viewers for ABC.

He told The Daily Beast in 2018 he has no interest in “appealing” to Trump voters. Following a controversial segment on gun control and healthcare the year before, he said “not good riddance, but riddance” to Trump supporters.

As Breitbart News reported, the once invincible Kimmel has been experiencing ratings problems in recent months. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live has recently lagged behind two Fox News shows — Gutfeld! and Fox News @ Night.

During the Naked Lunch podcast interview, Kimmel played defense for President Joe Biden by repeating the mainstream news media’s 2020 refrain that Biden is a “decent” man.”

“Joe Biden — look, whatever you think about him…he’s a decent human being. He’s a nice old man who quite plainly cared about people through his whole life,” the comedian said. “He’s certainly not evil. If you believe that, you’ve got some real problems.”

Kimmel made no mention of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal or President Biden’s demonization of Trump supporters  in his infamous Philadelphia speech in September during which he called “MAGA Republicans” a “threat” to the country.

Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com