The leftist comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosts ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! admitted that he lost over half of his fanbase because of his anti-Trump jokes. The shocking admission comes days before the polls close in the midterm elections, where Republicans are poised to take back both the U.S. House and Senate comfortably.

“I have lost half of my fans — maybe more than that,” said Kimmel, saying, “10 years ago among Republicans, I was the most popular talk show host.”

Fox News reports:

He said when former President Trump was first running for office ABC executives “hinted” he should back off on his jokes about the candidate.

“I just said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, I understand and I don’t begrudge you for it, but I’m not going to do that,’” the comedian told co-hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild.

He said he agreed that being more neutral in his comedy would help the ratings and he told executives, “If you want somebody else to host the show, then that’s fine. That’s OK with me. I’m just not going to do it like that.”

He said the executives backed off because they knew he was “serious.”

Kimmel continued, “I couldn’t live with myself [otherwise],” adding that he is “proud” to be very anti-Trump. He said, “there’s a sacrifice you make when it comes to your audience and you could do pretty well if you just stayed down the middle.”