Late-night television host, Jimmy Kimmel ,is set to return to screens on Tuesday, a week after his show was suspended over controversial remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, faced backlash after being accused of making “offensive and insensitive” comments during his broadcast last Monday.
In a statement, Disney, parent company of ABC, explained its decision, “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.”
However, questions remain about whether the programme will be reinstated on affiliates run by Sinclair and NexStar, which collectively manage about 20% of ABC stations.
Sinclair, which controls 38 ABC affiliates, confirmed it will continue to pull Kimmel’s show and replace it with news segments.
“Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company said.
NexStar, which operates more than 20 affiliates, has yet to issue a statement.
Before Disney announced the comeback, more than 430 Hollywood figures had rallied behind Kimmel, signing an open letter addressed to the American Civil Liberties Union in defense of free expression.
Signatories included Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep, who declared the suspension a “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”
The letter read, “Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power – because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”
Actors and entertainers such as Florence Pugh, Noah Wyle, David Cross, Kelli O’Hara, Molly Ringwald, Pedro Pascal, Billy Crystal, Nathan Lane, Kerry Washington and Kevin Bacon also signed the appeal.
The controversy erupted after Kimmel accused Donald Trump and his allies of exploiting Kirk’s assassination, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise 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 continued, “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
“Many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalise on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
The remarks triggered outrage among conservatives. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr warned Disney and ABC that he would “take action,” telling podcaster Benny Johnson: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
He later praised affiliates for pushing back, saying, “it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”
The suspension also drew criticism from political leaders, including former President Barack Obama, who wrote on X, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like. This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent – and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”
The timing of the controversy coincided with high-stakes business moves: Disney seeking FCC approval for ESPN’s purchase of the NFL Network, and NexStar awaiting sign-off from the Trump administration on its $6.2bn acquisition of broadcaster Tegna.
From London, where he was on a state visit, Donald Trump dismissed the row and claimed Kimmel’s exit was due to poor ratings.
“Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings, more than anything else. And he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” he said.
