Jimmy Kimmel returns: Disney reinstates late night host who was sidelined after Charlie Kirk comments

Jimmy Kimmel will return to television Tuesday, nearly one week after Disney-owned ABC took his long-running late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, off the air under pressure from the Trump administration, station owners and conservative critics over comments he made after the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

“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 Co. wrote in a statement Monday, local time. “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.”

Kimmel used his monologue September 15 to say “the MAGA gang” was trying to paint the accused killer as “anything other than one of them,” and suggested US President Donald Trump was feigning grief over the killing to “score political points.”

Kimmel had previously condemned the shooting and those who celebrated it. His jokes leading up to his suspension did not target Mr Kirk but rather Republicans whom Kimmel accused of exploiting the death, including Mr Trump’s son Eric (“This poor guy might need someone to adopt him,” Kimmel said), Vice President JD Vance (and “his little mascara-stained finger”), and FBI Director Kash Patel, who was heard repeatedly sniffing into a microphone in Kimmel’s clip montage.

The monologue was standard fare for Kimmel. And the right-wing backlash to it did not seem especially remarkable until Mr Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, appeared on a conservative podcast Wednesday and linked Kimmel to “a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about” the politics of Mr Kirk’s killer.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Mr Carr said, accusing ABC; its parent company, Disney; and any companies that broadcast its content for potentially violating government rules. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

That same evening, ABC and two companies that own large networks of its local affiliate stations, Nexstar and Sinclair, said they would stop airing Kimmel’s show. ABC said Kimmel’s show would be preempted “indefinitely” on Wednesday but did not offer any explanation for why it made that decision.

Nexstar and Sinclair, however, explicitly said they took issue with Kimmel’s comments about the response to Mr Kirk’s killing.

Nexstar, the country’s largest owner of local TV stations, has immediate business before the FCC: The company is seeking agency approval for a $6.2 billion merger with rival Tegna and needs the commission to raise the long-standing national ownership cap that prevents them from growing larger.

Sinclair on Monday said it will pre-empt Kimmel’s show on its affiliate stations and replace it with news programming. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” a spokesperson said.

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, and executive producer for Mr Kirk’s show, criticised ABC’s decision on X. “Disney and ABC caving and allowing (Kimmel) back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make,” he wrote. “Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”

ABC and Disney have stayed mum about Kimmel since they sidelined him, though the ordeal has unleashed a spasm of condemnation from Hollywood celebrities, fellow comedians and late-night hosts, and showrunners. Democratic politicians, including former president Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, have criticized the Trump administration for pressuring Kimmel’s cancellation.

The Trump administration hasn’t been spared from criticism from the political right, either. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board and the Free Press, conservative media mainstays, lambasted what they said was the government’s censorial behaviour. The National Review called for the dissolution of the FCC, which it says shouldn’t exist as an instrument of government regulation let alone “bullying.”

Republican Senator Ted Cruz joined Democratic counterparts, calling Mr Carr’s actions “dangerous as hell” and “right out of Goodfellas” during a podcast episode Friday. Republican senators Rand Paul (Kentucky), Todd Young (Indiana) and Dave McCormick (Pennsylvania) also expressed frustration with Mr Carr.

Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky) chimed in on social media after Kimmel was reinstated. “Well, my colleague, Ted Cruz, said it looked just like Goodfellas,” he wrote. “As a First Amendment guy, myself, I think he’s probably got it right. You don’t have to like what somebody says on TV to agree that the Government shouldn’t be getting involved here.”

Senator Schumer celebrated the announcement Monday afternoon. “This is about fighting for free speech and against these abuses by Donald Trump and Brendan Carr,” he wrote on X.

Anna M. Gomez, the FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, said in a statement she was “glad to see Disney find its courage in the face of clear government intimidation.”

“More importantly, I want to thank those Americans from across the ideological spectrum who spoke loudly and courageously against this blatant attempt to silence free speech,” Ms Gomez added.

Mr Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Hollywood’s elite, particularly left-leaning comedians who make him the butt of their jokes. The President celebrated on social media in July, when CBS said it would cancel the Emmy-winning Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS said its decision was purely financial, though its corporate owner, Paramount, was also seeking FCC approval to combine with Skydance). Mr Trump celebrated again after Kimmel’s suspension was announced (“Great News for America,” he wrote) and called for two other comedians, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, to also be “cancelled.”

“Must be nice to be a leftist. ‘Cancellation’ lasts 5 nights and you’re right back under klieg lights,” Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News host and host of “The Megyn Kelly Show” on SiriusXM, posted on X. “On the right you’re underground.”

It’s unclear whether Kimmel will offer an apology upon his return or whether affiliate stations across the country will boycott the show.

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