• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 11 hours ago

Jimmy Kimmel restrained himself from making his annual monologue at the Disney Upfront this week all about his battles with Donald Trump.

But he did make reference to the President’s attacks on free speech on late-night TV without ever mentioning the name “Trump.”

“Yes, the President has tried to get me twice over the last six months -- that’s one way to look at it,” Kimmel said at the Upfront held in the spacious northern portion of the Javits Center convention and exposition venue in Manhattan.

“Another way, you could also say I’ve generated unparalleled engagement across a variety of platforms. Largely thanks to our partners in Washington, we are up 25% among viewers!”

Kimmel delivered his monologue -- a much-anticipated yearly staple of the Disney event -- in person this year. Some years, he has appeared remotely from Los Angeles.

While he was in New York, Kimmel appeared the night before on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS, along with other late-night comedy stars Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver.

“I was on ‘The Late Show’ last night with Stephen Colbert,” Kimmel said. He added, with a play on words: “As you know, CBS is turning 11:35 into a leased time slot -- least as in, least likely to offend the President -- with a rerun of ‘Comics Unleashed’ from 2007 featuring Paula Poundstone and Andy Dick.”

“Poor Stephen. It’s bad enough to lose your job. Imagine getting replaced by the owner of the Weather Channel!”

The quip was a reference to Byron Allen, the TV station owner who produces “Comics Unleashed” and also owns the Weather Channel.

As always, Kimmel took shots at his own network and the ad biz, although the TV Blog detected a somewhat softer tone this year than in past years.

“As for us at ABC, except for all the domestic violence, we’re doing really great,” he said, referring to the yanking of the 22nd season of “The Bachelorette” in March before it even aired after a video emerged of the show’s star, Frankie Taylor Paul, allegedly assaulting her boyfriend while one of her small children sat sobbing in the background.

Much of the monologue was self-referential. “I cost our company a lot of money this year. Billions,” Kimmel joked. 

“It is very possible that no employee in the history of any company has cost their employer more. Hiring me 24 years ago, just from a purely mathematical standpoint, was the worst personnel decision the Disney Corporation ever made!”