Jimmy Kimmel returned to his ABC late-night show Monday after a week in New York where he attended the Disney upfront presentation, delivering his annual roast.
Among other topics, he discussed the NBA playoffs and addressed a conspiracy theory circulating about the Eastern Conference semifinal between the Pistons and the Cavaliers, in which the Pistons tied the series at 3 games apiece before the Cavaliers took Game 7 to face the Knicks in the Eastern Conference final.
“Some believe the series was rigged in favor of the Cavaliers by the league because of this promo that aired on our network ABC the day before Game 7 took place,” Kimmel said and played the promo, which teased “The Eastern Conference Finals: Cavaliers-Nicks Game 1 on ESPN.”
A day after the promo ran, Game 7 indeed produced the the outcome “predicted” in in.
“ABC said they ran the promo by mistake and I believe them,” Kimmel said. “If ABC could predict the future, we wouldn’t have wasted $20M on a canceled season of The Bachelorette.”
In March, ABC pulled Season 22 of The Bachelorette only days before its premiere over as Taylor Frankie Paul became engulfed in a domestic assault-related controversy. Two months later, there has been no update on whether the season will be released on ABC or Hulu.
Here is Kimmel’s monologue:
