Kimmel is back on Tuesday
Jimmy Kimmel is returning to the airways. ABC has just announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return on Tuesday night following "thoughtful conversations" with parent company Disney.
A spokesman said, “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. 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.”
Following a backlash over Kimmel's statements regarding Charlie Kirk's killer, ABC canceled Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely on Wednesday.
Kimmel, on his show last Monday night, said, “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 with everything they can to score political points from it.”
ABC was subsequently threatened by FCC chairman Brendan Carr to "find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there will be additional work for the FCC ahead." Carr declared that the comedian's comments were "some of the sickest conduct possible."
Carr attempted to refute the notion that the licenses of ABC stations were under threat earlier on Monday. He stated that this "did not occur in any manner, shape, or form."
In the hours following Carr's initial comments, Nexstar, a local station group, announced that it would "preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future" due to its "strong objections to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk." It was promptly followed by comparable remarks from Sinclair, a competitor station group.
The program was paused by Disney a few moments later.
Disney and Kimmel engaged in days of discussions as the controversy surrounding the suspension intensified on both sides of the political spectrum.
Celebrities such as Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep have denounced "government threats to our freedom of speech." Tatiana Maslany, the star of Marvel's Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, has also encouraged individuals to cancel their Disney service subscriptions.
Kimmel was also endorsed by his late-night colleagues, including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, as well as former late-night hosts David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Jay Leno.
Even some right-wing politicians, including Ted Cruz, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has oversight over the FCC, have cautioned that it is dangerous for the government to silence free speech. They fear that Democrats could use the precedent to silence conservatives when they next enter the White House.