Jimmy Kimmel is set to return to his late-night time slot, Disney announced Monday.
The company announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! is returning on Tuesday after “having thoughtful conversations” with the comedian following his show’s suspension last week over comments he made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
“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 a statement. “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,” it added.
Last week, ABC abruptly announced that it was pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely after MAGA became incensed over a monologue where he made a quip about the conservative activist and mocked President Donald Trump’s nonchalant reaction to his close ally’s death.
The move generated swift backlash from celebrities and viewers alike, with musicians like Sarah McLachlan and Jewel pulling out of a Disney documentary launch and hundreds of other stars, including Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Jennifer Aniston, signing an open letter slamming Kimmel’s suspension as an attack on free speech.
Audiences, meanwhile, said they were canceling their subscriptions to Disney’s streaming services in protest.
The firestorm stemmed from Kimmel’s Monday night monologue last week.
“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, referring to Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s shooting.
“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving on Friday,” he went on, before playing a clip of Trump’s response when a reporter asked how he was holding up after Kirk’s death.
In the clip, the president sharply steered the conversation to the construction of his White House ballroom after telling the reporter that he was doing “very good.”
“He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel said, drawing laughter from the audience. “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?”
Conservatives erupted in outrage at the bit, with influencer Benny Johnson blasting Kimmel’s remarks as “definitionally evil and a malicious lie.”
Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, hopped on Johnson’s eponymous podcast to issue a stark warning to ABC.
“What appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person, if that’s what happened here with his conduct, that is really, really sick,” he said. “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
President Donald Trump was quick to take a victory lap after Kimmel’s suspension, hailing it as “great news for America” in a Truth Social post.
Confronted by reporters on Thursday about whether the suspension amounted to an attack on free speech, the president appeared unbothered.
“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else,” he said. “He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.”
MAGAworld sang a different tune on Monday following the announcement of Kimmel’s return.
Andrew Kolvet, spokesperson for Kirk’s conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, called on ABC affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair to stand firm in their earlier decisions not to air Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice,” he wrote on X.
Conservative influencer Nick Sortor similarly urged his followers to demand that Sinclair and Nexstar “keep Kimmel off air!”
The broadcasters did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
“Must be nice to be a leftist,” right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly said. “‘Cancellation’ lasts 5 nights and you’re right back under klieg lights. On the right you’re underground.”
Across the aisle, Democrats celebrated the news of Kimmel’s return to the airwaves.
“Thank you to everyone but Brendan Carr,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said. “This is a win for free speech everywhere.”
“Looking forward to seeing Jimmy back on the air,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker added.
