Jimmy Kimmel is back, and he has a lot to say.
Six days after ABC temporarily suspended his talk show, Kimmel, 57, opened his Tuesday, September 23, episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! with a series of news clips claiming his first monologue back would be the most “pivotal moment” in recent broadcast history. The cameras then cut to the late night host and his sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, who were dressed up in a mouse and banana suit, respectively.
Kimmel then took the stage for real, walking out to thunderous applause and a standing ovation where the crowd began chanting, “Jimmy! Jimmy!”
“If you’re just joining us, we’re preempting your regularly scheduled programming of Celebrity Family Feud to bring you this special report,” Kimmel began, jokingly referring to what aired in place of his show during his suspension. “I’m happy to be here tonight with you. I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours: me or the CEO of Tylenol. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days. I’ve heard from all the people in the last six days. Everyone I have ever known has reached out 10 or 11 times. Characters from my past, the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle — where we are not airing tonight, by the way — his name is Larry.”
After a throwback story about getting the boot by Larry in 1989, Kimmel pivoted to thanking his fellow late night hosts, including Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert — “who has found himself in this predicament,” Kimmel said — and “even” Jay Leno.
Kimmel noted that hosts from other countries also reached out to him, including one guy from Germany. “Can you imagine? This country has become so authoritarian the Germans are like, ‘Come here!’” he joked.
He also thanked fans of the show and viewers, many of whom canceled their Disney+ subscriptions over the past week.
“You supported our show cared enough to do something about it to make your voices heard so that mine could be heard and I will never forget it,” he said, also thanking people like Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens, who he “never imagined” he’d receive support from.
“It takes courage to speak out against this administration and they did and they deserve credit for it and thanks,” he said. “For telling their followers that our government cannot control what we do and do not say and TV.”
Kimmel then clarified his comments about Charlie Kirk‘s death while holding back tears.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about what I need to do and say tonight, and the truth is, I don’t think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference,” he said. “If you like me, you like me, if you don’t, I have no illusions of changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human: 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.”
He continued, “I posted a message on Instagram on the day [Charlie] was killed sending my love to his family asking for compassion, and I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was a deeply disturbed individual. That was actually the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both.”
Kimmel noted that he understands why some people were “upset,” adding that he has “many friends and family members on the ‘other side’ who I love and remain close to even thought we don’t agree on politics at all.”
After moving on to the importance of the First Amendment, the host joked that his “one condition” for returning to late night was to convince viewers to “reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu” accounts. He then addressed his time at ABC directly: “I’ve been fortunate to work at a company that has allowed me to do the show the way we want to do it for almost 23 years. I’ve done almost 4,000 shows on ABC, and over that time, the people who run this network have allowed me to evolve and to stretch the boundaries of what was once traditional for a late night talk show, even when it made them uncomfortable, which I do a lot. Every night, they defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects that I think are important by allowing me to use their platform, and I’m grateful for that. With that said, I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on Wednesday. I did not agree with that decision and I told them that, and we had many conversations.”
He explained, “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, we have short attention spans and I am a tiny part of the Disney corporation, they welcomed me back on the air. And I thank them for that, because I know that unfortunately and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk.”
Kimmel wrapped up his speech by praising Erika Kirk (née Frantzve), who previously shared that she “forgives” Charlie’s accused killer, Tyler Robinson, for his actions.
“There was a moment over the weekend, a very beautiful moment, I don’t know if you saw this — on Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is an example we should follow,” he said. “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. And I hope it touches many, and if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that. Not this.”
Tuesday’s episode, which featured guest Glen Powell and musical artist Sarah McLachlan, marked the talk show’s return nearly one week after it was abruptly pulled from the air.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for ABC told Luxury Handbag Shopping in a statement on September 17.
The move came after Kimmel sparked backlash with comments he made about the killing of the conservative pundit.
During the September 15 episode of Live!, Kimmel spoke aboutRobinson, the man who was accused of fatally shooting Charlie at Utah Valley University on September 10.
“The MAGA Gang [is] 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,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Kimmel also joked about the way President Donald Trump responded to a reporter who asked how he was doing after Charlie’s death. (Trump, 79, said, “I think very good,” and moved on to discussing the White House ballroom’s remodel.)
“He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel added. “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
Following these remarks, Nexstar Media, which owns multiple TV stations, told Variety that it “strongly objects” to the TV host’s remarks and would be replacing his show with other programming for the “foreseeable future.”
Meanwhile, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened ABC, Disney and Kimmel in response to the comedian’s comments.
“There’s calls for Kimmel to be fired,” Carr said on Benny Johnson’s YouTube show on September 17. “I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this. … Frankly, when we see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! sparked outrage among fans and celebrities, with many calling for a boycott of Disney, which owns ABC.
The Walt Disney Company announced its decision to bring the show back on Monday, September 22.
“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,” the company told Us 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.”
The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which demanded that Kimmel apologize to Charlie’s family and “make a meaningful personal donation” to them and to his nonprofit organization, has stated that it will continue preempting the talk show across its 38 affiliate stations. Nexstar announced plans to do the same.
While Kimmel never spoke publicly about the suspension prior to his talk show coming back, he did return to social media hours before Tuesday’s episode to pay tribute to the late Norman Lear — an outspoken supporter of the First Amendment.
“Missing this guy today,” he captioned a photo of himself and the screenwriter, who died at age 101 in December 2023.
