Jay Leno Rejects the Idea That He “Deliberately Sabotaged” Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show

While Leno stopped short of apologizing to O’Brien, he did offer up condolences to Jimmy Kimmel. 

As he was getting prepared to leave The Tonight Show, Leno said he received offers from multiple networks, including Kimmel’s home at ABC. At the time, he called Kimmel to see how he would feel about Leno joining the network, which meant Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be pushed back to 12:35 a.m. instead.

Leno said Kimmel agreed, but he never followed up with him after he decided to stay at NBC—which he now regrets.

“I suppose I should have called Jimmy and explained to him again, but I didn’t,” Leno said. “I don’t know why I didn’t. I just didn’t. I thought he probably would figure it out. But I think maybe he was hurt by that, and I apologize to him for that.”