Jimmy Kimmel will return to Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night, just days after ABC pulled the plug on the show over pointed remarks he made regarding the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The suspension sparked immediate backlash from fans, celebrities, and free speech advocates, putting pressure on the network to reverse its decision.
During the September 14 broadcast, Kimmel joked: “We had 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,” he said. That comment was enough to send Disney, ABC’s parent company, into damage-control mode.
Citing national tension and “an emotional moment for our country,” Disney issued a statement explaining the decision to suspend the show last week. “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 statement read. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
Kimmel was set to address his controversial comments on Wednesday’s episode, but the plug was pulled just hours before showtime — a move that only intensified public scrutiny and inflamed an already heated conversation around free speech and corporate censorship.
By Monday, the backlash had gone nuclear. Over 400 celebrities, including heavyweights like Jennifer Aniston and Meryl Streep, signed an open letter condemning ABC’s suspension of the late-night host. The letter, published by the ACLU, reads: “We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech. Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.”
The storm didn’t just stay within Hollywood. Thousands of users cancelled their Disney+ subscription in protest.
By Monday afternoon, just hours before the return was announced, the tide had fully turned. Disney said it had spent “the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy” before ultimately reversing course. “After those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” the company said.
Kimmel’s suspension was never going to stay quiet. It struck a nerve at the intersection of comedy, politics, and the ever-blurring line between the two. His return Tuesday isn’t just about a talk show resuming production — it’s about a network responding to public fury, and a host standing his ground in the middle of a firestorm.
