WATCH: Gayle King Stunned After ‘CBS Mornings’ Co-Host Rips Jimmy Kimmel

A stunned Gayle King struggled to respond on Friday after her fellow CBS morning news host criticized Jimmy Kimmel for how he handled hosting the first show since his return from an abrupt cancellation.

Tony Dokoupil’s blunt commentary on Kimmel’s feud with President Donald Trump was grating on King’s ears, given her well-known appreciation for running a progressive morning talk show. She had been praising Kimmel for drawing his largest audience in years with his return, despite facing outages with affiliates owned by Sinclair and Nexstar after both ABC broadcasters refused to air his Wednesday night program.

“Which kind of makes the numbers even more extraordinary – a big chunk of the country couldn’t get it,” she noted.

But when King continued to cite Kimmel’s explosive popularity on YouTube and other social media platforms, Dokoupil had heard enough and interjected.

“But the 26 million [views] on social media, most of that money doesn’t go to ABC,” he responded.

“And the business is bad if you’re offending half the country – ones that voted for the guy he doesn’t like. So. Here we are. Good luck, late-night.”

The frankness of her colleague’s response appeared to leave King stunned in her chair.

Disney announced a “return” of Kimmel’s late-night show after last week putting him on an “indefinite” hiatus over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. However, his return was hindered by broadcasters’ protests, which prevented the comedian from reaching the homes of about one in four ABC viewers nationwide.

During his return monologue, Kimmel gave a teary-eyed non-apology for joking that President Trump and his “MAGA gang” were “desperate” to avoid being associated with Tyler Robinson, the suspected gunman.

Trump was all too ready to mock Kimmel for being pulled off the air, and on Tuesday, he issued a fiery rebuke of ABC for allowing him to return.

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He has also taken aim at King in the past for some of her progressive daytime news anchoring duties.

Last month, the president wrote on Truth Social that “Gayle King’s career is over.

“She should have stayed with her belief in TRUMP. She never dared to do so. No talent, no ratings, no strength!!”

King responded to Trump’s claims, saying, “Well, I’m sorry he feels that way.

“But I’m just going to — I like my job, continue to do a good job,” she said, the Daily Mail reported.

But King has also faced hostility inside CBS, where producers of her morning show have questioned her decision to elevate particularly progressive guests.

Sources familiar with the feud say King and other legacy talents have “dug in” to resist C-level efforts to eliminate “woke” programming from CBS News.

“The audience doesn’t want woke. It doesn’t like progressive and provocative bookings,” one of the sources told The Post. “The morning show audience wants optimism and cheer and joy and what they were producing is at odds with audience expectations.”

They singled out King’s March 26 interview with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Bob the Drag Queen, who was on tour promoting his first novel, titled “Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert.”

A CBS webpage described the novel as a “gender-bending story where the historic icon appears in modern-day America to tell her story through a hip-hop album.”