ABC said on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show would return to television on Tuesday night, nearly a week after the network suspended the show over Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the fatal shooting of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, said in a statement that it spent the past few days having “thoughtful” conversations with Mr. Kimmel, and after those discussions, it decided his show could resume.
The decision to pull the program “indefinitely” last week, made under unusual pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, had set off a political firestorm over free speech and the government’s ability to silence commentary it dislikes.
Mr. Kirk was killed on a college campus in Utah on Sept. 10. Since then, President Trump has blamed the “radical left” for rhetoric that led to the death of Mr. Kirk. Known for his outreach with young voters, Mr. Kirk was credited with helping Mr. Trump win the White House.
Mr. Kimmel went after Mr. Trump’s supporters in his Sept. 15 program, calling them “the MAGA gang” during his monologue, and said they were “desperately trying” to paint the accused shooter, Tyler Robinson, “as anything other than one of them.” He also ridiculed Mr. Trump’s response to the tragedy last week, saying he grieved like “a 4-year-old mourning a goldfish.”
The next day, conservative commentators began to disparage the comments. The controversy spread on social media, with figures including Elon Musk condemning Mr. Kimmel’s remarks. Soon the chairman of the F.C.C. warned ABC of serious consequences, including the possibility of pulling broadcast licenses, in the wake of Mr. Kimmel’s monologue. In response, ABC and Disney temporarily suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” prompting a broader discussion about the First Amendment, political pressure and the future of late-night television.
Here’s everything that has happened so far.
What did Kimmel say?
In his monologueearly last week, Mr. Kimmel discussed the politics of the man accused of fatally shooting Mr. Kirk.
“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,” he said.
He then joked about Mr. Trump’s response to a reporter who asked about how he was coping with Mr. Kirk’s death. Mr. Trump said he was doing “very good” and then quickly shifted to discussing a new $200 million ballroom being added to the White House.
“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Mr. Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
How it became an issue
The backlash against Mr. Kimmel started Tuesday morning on X after a user posted a clip of the show’s opening remarks.
Conservative influencers and media figures drew attention to the monologue throughout the day, saying Mr. Kimmel mischaracterized the political beliefs of Mr. Robinson. According to prosecutors, Mr. Robinson had written that he objected to Mr. Kirk’s “hatred,” but authorities haven’t said which of Mr. Kirk’s views he was referring to. His mother told prosecutors that he had recently become more left-leaning and “pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”
Fox News hosts also discussed the clip on the same evening. Things escalated when Mr. Musk, the owner of the social media platform X and whose account has millions of followers, called Mr. Kimmel “disgusting” for the comments.
On Wednesday, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the F.C.C., publicly condemned Mr. Kimmel’s remarks as “truly sick” and hinted at possible regulatory action against ABC. Speaking on a right-wing podcast, he warned that the network could “do this the easy or hard way,” signaling serious consequences if it didn’t respond.
Later in the day, pressure came from Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliate stations. The company announced it would pull Mr. Kimmel’s show from its stations indefinitely. Nexstar said the offensive comment made airing the monologue no longer in the “public interest.”
The mix of forces made the issue impossible for ABC and Disney to ignore.
What did ABC and Disney do?
For Robert Iger, the chief executive of Disney, and Dana Walden, the company’s head of television, the situation became a high-stakes balancing act. Mr. Kimmel had planned to address the growing furor in Wednesday night’s monologue, but Disney’s leadership feared it would inflame tensions amid escalating regulatory threats and affiliate boycotts.
Advertisers were also growing wary, and employees were receiving threatening messages. Facing these risks, as the audience was about to start filing into Mr. Kimmel’s Hollywood studio to tape Wednesday’s program, Disney chose to suspend the show indefinitely.
On Monday, Disney said in a statement that Mr. Kimmel’s show would return to airwaves on Tuesday after having “thoughtful” discussions with Mr. Kimmel for the last few days.
“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 the statement.
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement continued. “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.”
Has Mr. Kimmel responded?
Mr. Kimmel has still not to commented on the suspension.
What did other late-night hosts say?
Mr. Kimmel’s suspension had sparked a wave of support and outrage among his late-night peers. Stephen Colbert, the host of “The Late Show,” which CBS announced it was canceling in July, said ABC’s decision was “blatant censorship.” Jon Stewart, on his show, mocked the censorship, and lampooned government control of media.
David Letterman spoke out at The Atlantic Festival last week, criticizing the network’s move as an attempt to appease an “authoritarian” administration. Other hosts like Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon echoed concerns about freedom of speech and the dangers of political influence.
More than 400 Hollywood celebrities signed a letter, which was released by the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday, criticizing the suspension.
Kailyn Rhone is a Times business reporter and the 2025 David Carr fellow.
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