Jimmy Kimmel returned to the ABC lineup with a strong statement for most American households to watch on Tuesday night, six days after being pulled off the air for right-wing backlash against his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.
Holding back tears, he told his audience: “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.” He also thanked those who spoke out about the show’s suspension, regardless of where they stand in a fractured American political landscape.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host thanked Disney for bringing him back on the air, though he admitted he was “not happy” about their initial decision to suspend him. He praised Erika Kirk for how she forgave Charlie Kirk’s accused shooter, while also calling out President Donald Trump and FCC chair Brendan Carr for their “direct violation” of the First Amendment for their part in the suspension saga.
“They welcomed me back on the air, and I thank them for that. Unfortunately, and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk. The President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue. “Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke. He was somehow able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS, then he turned his sights on me, and now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows who don’t make millions of dollars.”
“I hope that if that happens, or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week. We have to speak out against this. He’s not stopping, and it’s not just comedy. He’s gunning for our journalists too, he’s suing them, he’s bullying them,” the comedian added. “Look, I never imagined I’d be in a situation like this. I barely paid attention in school. 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.”
“I’m so glad we have some solidarity on that from the right and the left and from those in the middle, like Joe Rogan. Maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on, and maybe we’ll even find another one. Maybe we can get a little bit closer together,” Kimmel said. “We do agree on a lot of things. We agree on keeping our children safe from guns, reproductive rights for women, social security, affordable health care, pediatric cancer research. These are all things that most Americans support. Let’s stop letting these politicians tell us what they want and tell them what we want.”
Kimmel also thanked his fans, friends and enemies alike for their support over the last week — including Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, James Corden, Arsenio Hall, Kathy Griffin, Wanda Sykes, Chelsea Handler, Jay Leno, Howard Stern, David Letterman, Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and even late night hosts from other countries.
Kimmel concluded his monologue tearing up for a second time while giving some praise to Charlie Kirk’s widow: “On Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband, she forgave him. That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was. That’s it, a selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply and I hope it touches many. And if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that.”
An hour before the episode aired, President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC for bringing Kimmel back, suggesting he is once again going to go after the network.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.”
“He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do,” he continued. “Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
Kimmel’s return came six days after Disney “indefinitely suspended” the late night host due to his Sept. 15 coverage of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
“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,” the Walt Disney Company said in a Monday statement. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. 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.”
Local affiliate owners Nexstar and Sinclair both decided to still preempt Tuesday’s new episode across their stations. Representatives for both companies did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment after the return monologue aired.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” a Sinclair spokesperson told TheWrap on Monday. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
“We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve,” Nexstar echoed in a Tuesday statement. “In the meantime, we note that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
