Jimmy Kimmel returned to late night with a passionate speech on September 23—nearly one week after ABC suspended his show over comments he made about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In his lengthy opening monologue, the talk show host clarified that “it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.” At the same time, he took aim at President Donald Trump’s administration for pressuring the network to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.
“This show is not important. What’s important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.” Kimmel said. He later added: “I never imagined I’d be in situation like this—I barely paid attention in school. But one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.”
ABC had “indefinitely” suspended the comedian’s long-running show after he suggested Kirk’s accused murderer, Tyler Robinson, was part of “the MAGA gang.”
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on September 15.
ABC pulled the show from the air two days later after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take action against the network and its affiliates on the Benny Johnson Show. “Frankly, when you see stuff like this—I mean, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said during the podcast interview. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Following Carr’s warning, Nexstar, which owns more than two dozen ABC affiliate channels, announced it would pull the 57-year-old host’s show from the air, prompting another affiliate owner Sinclair and ABC, itself, to follow suit. In response, the FCC head thanked Nexstar for “doing the right thing,” adding that “local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest.”
The decision quickly drew outrage, with several Hollywood unions that represent employees on the show criticizing it as an attack on free speech and the First Amendment. Even former President Barack Obama weighed in on the matter, posting on X (formerly Twitter) that the Trump administration has taken cancel culture “to a new and dangerous level.”
On September 22, ABC’s parent company, Disney, announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! would resume broadcasting. “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” Disney said in a statement. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.” Despite this, both Nexstar and Sinclair have opted to continue pre-empting the show.
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