A demonstrator waves a "Protect Free Speech" sign following a protest against the suspension of the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show, held near the theater where the show is produced in Hollywood, on September 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP)
Jimmy Kimmel will return to television on Tuesday, nearly one week after Disney-owned ABC took his long-running late-night talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” off the air under pressure from the Trump administration, station owners and conservative critics over comments he made after the killing of right-wing activist 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,” The Walt Disney Co. wrote in a statement Monday. "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.”
Kimmel used his monologue Sept. 15 to suggest Kirk’s accused killer was part of "the MAGA gang” rather than a liberal, and suggested Trump was feigning grief over the killing to "score political points.” Kimmel had previously condemned the shooting and those who celebrated it. His jokes leading up to his suspension did not target Kirk but rather Republicans whom Kimmel accused of exploiting the death, including Trump’s son Eric ("This poor guy might need someone to adopt him,” Kimmel said), Vice President JD Vance (and "his little mascara-stained finger”), and FBI Director Kash Patel, who was heard repeatedly sniffing into a microphone in Kimmel’s clip montage.
The monologue was standard fare for Kimmel. And the right-wing backlash to it did not seem especially remarkable until Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, appeared on a conservative podcast Wednesday and linked Kimmel to "a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about” the politics of Kirk’s killer.
File: US television host Jimmy Kimmel arrives for "An Evening With Jimmy Kimmel" at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood on August 7, 2019. (Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP)
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said, accusing ABC; its parent company, Disney; and any companies that broadcast its content for potentially violating government rules. "These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
That same evening, ABC and two companies that own large networks of its local affiliate stations, Nexstar and Sinclair, said they would stop airing Kimmel’s show. ABC said Kimmel’s show would be preempted "indefinitely” on Wednesday evening but did not offer any explanation for why they made that decision.
Nexstar and Sinclair, however, explicitly said they took issue with Kimmel’s comments about the response to Kirk’s killing.
Nexstar, the country’s largest owner of local TV stations, has immediate business before the FCC: The company is seeking agency approval for a $6.2 billion merger with rival Tegna and needs the commission to raise the long-standing national ownership cap that prevents them from growing larger.
ABC and Disney have stayed mum about Kimmel since they sidelined him, though the ordeal has unleashed a spasm of condemnation from Hollywood celebrities, fellow comedians and late-night hosts, and showrunners. Democratic politicians, including former president Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York), have criticized the Trump administration for pressuring Kimmel’s cancellation.
The Trump administration hasn’t been spared from criticism from the political right, either. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board and the Free Press, conservative media mainstays, lambasted the government’s censorial behavior. The National Review called for the dissolution of the FCC, which it says shouldn’t exist as an instrument of government regulation let alone "bullying.”
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) joined Democratic counterparts, calling Carr’s actions "dangerous as hell” and "right out of ‘Goodfellas’” during a podcast episode Friday.
Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Kentucky), Todd Young (Indiana) and Dave McCormick (Pennsylvania) also expressed frustration with Carr.
Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Hollywood’s elite, particularly left-leaning comedians who make him the butt of their jokes. The president celebrated on social media in July when CBS said it would cancel the Emmy-winning "Late Night with Stephen Colbert” (CBS said its decision was purely financial, though its corporate owner, Paramount, was also seeking FCC approval to combine with Skydance).
Trump celebrated again after Kimmel’s suspension was announced ("Great News for America,” he wrote) and called for two other comedians, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, to also be "canceled.”
It’s unclear whether Kimmel will offer an apology upon his return or whether affiliate stations across the country will boycott the show.
