Jimmy Kimmel Doesn’t Spare Trump As He Returns to ABC

Jimmy Kimmel returned to ABC on Tuesday night after his week-long suspension with a monologue where he acknowledged that his situation had led him to embrace a few strange bedfellows. Kimmel even thanked his longtime antagonist Ted Cruz for voicing support on Kimmel’s behalf–though the comedian couldn’t resist getting in a joke at the Texas senator’s expense. “If Ted Cruz can’t speak freely, then he can’t cast spells on the Smurfs,” he said.

The host returned to his late night time slot eight days after comments he made about the MAGA movement’s response to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Trump administration FCC Chair Brendan Carr complained about Kimmel on a podcast, and in turn led ABC to announce that Jimmy Kimmel Live had been pulled from the air “indefinitely.”

Though Kimmel did directly address Carr’s comments—and poked fun at the federal employee’s total about-face regarding the importance of political satire—he sounded a note of contrition about the comments that had led to his suspension in the first place. “It was never my intention to make light of a murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, getting choked up. “This was a sick person who believed violence is the answer, and it isn’t ever.”

He also praised Erika Kirk for the comments she made at her husband’s livestreamed memorial on Sunday night. “I don’t know if you saw this—Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband,” he said. “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.”

On Monday, Disney announced that Kimmel’s show—which has aired on ABC since January 2003—would return to the air. In a statement, the nation’s largest media company said that it had suspended the show “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” adding that it “spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy.” Though Disney relented, viewers across the country who access ABC through affiliates owned by Many viewers access ABC through affiliate networks, and two of the largest affiliate operators, Sinclair and Nexstar, said they would preempt the show after Disney announced his return.

In the aftermath of Kimmel’s suspension, activists launched a campaign urging a Disney boycott, and there were signs that the agitation was having an effect. Kimmel subtly referenced the rumored spike in cancellations in a joke. “Disney has asked me to read the following statement: “To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account…” he deadpanned, as the audience cheered. “Open the disney+ app on your smart TV or TV-connected device.”

Kimmel made light of the high expectations for the night in the show’s opening seconds. The show started with news clips, including one calling tonight “the most anticipated monologue in late night history,” before cutting to Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez wearing a bear suit and banana costume, respectively.

“I’m happy to be here tonight with all of you,” Kimmel said as the monologue began. “I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours—me or the CEO of Tylenol.” Kimmel then thanked everyone who reached out to him in the week he was off the air, including fellow late night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, and former ABC host James Corden.

He mentioned that he even got an offer to start a show in Germany. “Can you imagine? This country has become so authoritarian that even the Germans are like, ‘Come here,’” he said. True to form, Kimmel also couldn’t resist getting in a few digs at another longtime adversary, Donald Trump. “He tried his best to cancel me,” said Kimmel. “Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly.”

His comments also acknowledged the serious effects of the president’s obsession with late night TV. “Our president celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,” Kimmel said. “He turned his sights on me, and now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire Fallon and Meyers. I hope that if that happens—or if there’s even any hint of that happening—you will be ten times as loud as you were this week.”

After the suspension was announced, Kimmel went silent on his social media accounts. He did not make any public statement until Tuesday, when he returned to Instagram to share a 2019 photo of Kimmel posing with Norman Lear, the pioneering TV creator who died at the age of 101 in December 2023. Lear, the creator of sitcoms including All In the Family, was a well-known progressive and anti-censorship advocate. In 1976, Lear joined in a legal battle against the FCC over a rule that set limits on the content of primetime TV.

Exactly an hour before Kimmel returned to the air, Trump declared on TruthSocial that his vendetta against the late night host—and the network that employs Kimmel—would continue. “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” the president said. “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.”

The episode was pretaped, so Kimmel wasn’t able to address the comment, but he did anticipate that one was coming. “Maybe he’s saving it for his late night toilet time,” the host mused.