"Jimmy Kimmel Live" guest President Barack Obama cancelled his scheduled Wednesday appearance on the show. Contrary to reports from ABC that have denied any plans to guest the US President on the talk show, White House reps themselves have revealed that they pulled the plug on the guesting close to the last minute.
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" guest President Obama reportedly committed to do the talk show appearance, and news about the guesting was relayed to TMZ last Sunday. The plan was for the appearance to be announced on Monday on "Good Morning America." The cancellation was announced on Tuesday.
Soon after TMZ announced the spoiler about "Jimmy Kimmel Live" guest President Obama, ABC Network denied that the talk show had arranged for the said appearance. In a report from Variety, reps for the network said news about the President's said talk show appearance "is inaccurate and he is not booked on the show."
Even reps from Kimmel's end said that there was "never a plan for Obama to appear" and that "she had never heard of any such booking and she would know if that were the case."
However, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that the President was in talks with Kimmel. He explained that they had to pull the plug to appear in the comedy talk show just a day before the guesting in order for the President to deal "with more serious matters" such as ongoing international crises.
Sources have told TMZ that President Obama was scheduled to be taken on Wednesday 3PM to the El Capitan Theatre, right beside where "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is taped.
Among the plans for the President during his Los Angeles trip were appearances in two separate fundraisers. One is at the home of "Scandal" creator Shonda Rhimes on Wednesday evening, with tickets starting at $1,000 per person and "Scandal" star Kerry Washington as one of the special guests. Another is a fundraiser at the home of Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino. Also part of the President's itinerary was a visit in local community school Los Angeles Trade-Technical College to deliver a speech on job training.
