Jimmy Kimmel returned to his long-running late-night show Tuesday, less than a week after network broadcaster ABC pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over remarks he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“It’s been overwhelming…I’ve heard from all the people in the world over the last six days,” Kimmel joked to open his monologue, going on to thank all those who came out in his defense, including conservatives.
“Most of all, I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,” Kimmel said. “I never would have imagined that Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz, who believe it or not said something very beautiful on my behalf. It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration. They did and they deserve credit for it.”
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, had announced Monday that Kimmel would return to the air.
It followed a political and media firestorm that began after the comedian addressed Kirk’s slaying in a Sept. 15 monologue, saying: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.”
An emotional Kimmel on Tuesday said that “it’s important to me as a human, and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” noting that he had taken to social media following Kirk’s killing to send his condolences to Kirk’s family.
Kimmel didn’t issue a blanket apology for his monologue remarks last week, but said he understood how it was offensive to some.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” Kimmel said of the suspected gunman. “That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some, that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both. And for those who think I did, point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way.”
Kimmel gave a brief explanation for what took place behind the scenes between himself and ABC’s brass.
“I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on Wednesday,” Kimmel said. “I did not agree with that decision, and I told them that, and we had many conversations. I shared my point of view, they shared theirs. We talked it through, and at the end, even though they didn’t have to, they really didn’t have to, this is a giant company…they welcomed me back on the air.”
On Tuesday night, before the show aired on the East Coast, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “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!”
He went on, “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars,” Mr. Trump said in reference to his defamation lawsuit last year against ABC News over remarks made by anchor George Stephanopoulos, which the network settled in December by agreeing to contribute $15 million to Mr. Trump’s presidential foundation and museum, and another $1 million toward Mr. Trump’s legal fees.
“This one sounds even more lucrative,” Mr. Trump wrote Tuesday. “A true bunch of losers!”
Kimmel told his audience Tuesday that the president “made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.”
“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,” he added.
In a Sept. 17 interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s remarks “some of the sickest conduct possible,” and said there was a “path forward for suspension over this.”
“The FCC is going to have remedies we could look at,” Carr told Johnson. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Within hours of that interview, station operator Nexstar announced it would preempt Kimmel’s show over the remarks. Nexstar owns and operates more than 200 stations nationwide, including more than two dozen ABC affiliates. Nexstar has a deal pending to purchase Tegna, a smaller rival, for $6.2 billion, and needs the Federal Communications Commission to approve it.
A Nexstar spokesperson told CBS News last week that the decision to preempt Kimmel’s show was “made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision.”
ABC later said that it was “indefinitely” suspending the show.
Another major station owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, also said last week that it was pulling Kimmel’s show.
Despite its return to ABC on Tuesday night, both Nexstar and Sinclair said they would continue to preempt Kimmel’s show.
Sinclair on Monday night posted a statement on X saying it will preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” across its ABC affiliate stations and will be “replacing it with news programming” beginning Tuesday night. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” Sinclair said.
Nexstar on Tuesday said it will continue to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “monitor the show as it returns to ABC.”
Regarding Carr, Kimmel on Tuesday showed the audience a social media post that the FCC chair wrote in May 2022 in which he said, “Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.”
Disney on Monday did not delve into the details of what led to its decision to allow Kimmel’s show to resume, only saying in a statement that the initial suspension was “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” calling his comments “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,” Disney said.
The temporary removal of Kimmel’s show sparked a nationwide debate over issues of free speech and censorship. Many in the Hollywood community rallied to Kimmel’s side, with more than 400 celebrities — including actors Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep — signing an open letter with the American Civil Liberties Union that criticized the move as “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”
Conservatives upset with Kimmel’s comments about Kirk praised the decision, including President Trump, who congratulated ABC on his Truth Social platform “for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
Mr. Trump also speculated last week whether networks that cover him negatively should have their broadcast licenses revoked.
“They give me only bad publicity or press,” the president told reporters on Sept. 18. “I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr.”
But one prominent conservative, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, was specifically critical of Carr’s comments to Johnson.
“I gotta say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas,’” Cruz said Friday on his podcast. “That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar, going, ‘nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”
Kimmel’s show, which launched in 2003, tapes in front of a studio audience on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. The guests for Tuesday’s show included actor Glen Powell and singer Sarah McLachlan.
Kathryn Watson and
contributed to this report.
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
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