Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night program will return to ABC on Tuesday, nearly a week after being pulled from the air in the wake of backlash to the host’s comments about the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, according to an NBC News report.
“The Walt Disney Company said in a statement Monday that production was suspended ‘to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.’ The company added, ‘We felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,’ ” NBC News reported.
Disney said it spent several days in “thoughtful conversations” with Kimmel before deciding the show could resume.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC affiliate licenses over Kimmel’s remarks, which he called “the sickest conduct possible.”
That warning sparked broader debate about whether political pressure was being applied to a television network over a comedian’s comments. Media watchdog groups voiced alarm at what they described as an attempt to chill free expression through regulatory threats. Many viewers began canceling subscriptions to Disney+ and Disney-owned Hulu in the aftermath of the suspension.
President Donald Trump publicly praised the decision to remove Kimmel from the air, saying the late-night host had long engaged in “disgusting attacks” and that “ABC finally did the right thing.”
Trump’s comments further fueled concerns that the White House was encouraging federal regulators to punish networks that air critical voices.
In his monologue last Monday, Kimmel — who has often targeted Trump and his allies — criticized what he called the “MAGA gang,” accusing them of “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’s remarks in his monologue drew immediate outrage from conservatives, who argued that the late-night host had crossed a moral line at a time of national grief. Many accused him of mocking Kirk’s death and trivializing the gravity of a political assassination.
Conservative commentators and grassroots activists flooded social media with calls for his permanent removal, pointing to what they saw as a long-standing double standard in the entertainment industry that tolerates attacks on conservatives while punishing similar comments aimed at liberals.
Several Republican lawmakers echoed those sentiments, demanding ABC and Disney “draw a line” against what they described as “vile political hatred disguised as comedy.”
The controversy cemented Kimmel, already a frequent target of the right, as a lightning rod in the broader culture war over free speech, media bias, and respect for political opponents.
Adding to the outrage, many conservatives argued that if the roles were reversed — if a prominent liberal figure had been assassinated — no comedian would dare make light of the tragedy without facing immediate career-ending consequences. They cited past examples where even mild jokes at the expense of Democrat leaders had been swiftly condemned by Hollywood elites and liberal media outlets, contrasting it with what they see as a permissive environment for ridiculing conservatives, even in moments of mourning.
To them, Kimmel’s remarks were emblematic of a broader bias that normalizes disdain for the right while demanding reverence for the left.
The outrage was amplified by the shocking nature of Kirk’s assassination itself. Authorities in Utah said Tuesday that the suspect, a 24-year-old male, had recently “started to lean more left” politically and targeted Kirk specifically for his “political expression.”
The attack occurred outside at a campus event where Kirk was speaking, and investigators said they believe the suspect had been monitoring Kirk’s public appearances for weeks.
Emergency responders rushed Kirk to a nearby hospital, but he was later pronounced dead. Law enforcement officials confirmed that the killing was premeditated and motivated by ideological animus, describing it as one of the most serious politically driven acts of violence in recent U.S. history.
The assassination has left the conservative movement reeling, with many leaders calling for both justice and greater protection for public figures in the heated political climate.
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