Jimmy Kimmel Tests Positive for COVID, Canceling ‘Strike Force Three’ With Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert

The Strike Force Three live event has struck out. The hotly anticipated show — which was announced last week by Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert — has been canceled due to illness.

Kimmel took to X(Twitter) on Wednesday to reveal that he’s been diagnosed with COVID-19, and as a result, they would have to nix the fundraising event.

“Well, Las Vegas, I got Covid, and sadly, we need to cancel this weekend’s Strike Force Three show,” Kimmel wrote. “I could never live with myself if I got my hometown friends sick.”

The TV personality added, “Thanks to all who purchased tickets, everyone will get full refunds and we will try to reschedule if possible.”

The show — which was set to feature three of the five late-night talk show hosts from the Strike Force Five podcast — was to be held at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Sept. 23

The live show, as well as the podcast that spawned the special event, were started by the out-of-work hosts — alongside John Oliver and Seth Meyers. In the wake of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the hosts began the podcast as a way of raising money to pay their employees during the shutdowns.

Strike Force Five was created after the men had a series of private Zoom calls every week to discuss the serious issues that surround work stoppage. 

“What happened instead was a series of hilarious and compelling conversations. Now, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers and Oliver invite you to listen in on their once-private chats on this all-new podcast,” a press release said when the show premiered last month.

In May, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after failing to reach an agreement with major Hollywood studios over fair compensation, particularly in the wake of the expansion of streaming services since the last major contract dispute in 2007. At that time, the union fought for greater funding for writers’ rooms and DVD residuals. 

All late-night shows went dark on the first day of the strike. Since then, the five men have shown support to their staff by paying them out of pocket and providing ice cream and other food to writers on the picket line.

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