Jimmy Kimmel will return to the airwaves. ABC’s owner, Walt Disney Company, announced on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return on Tuesday, ending a short suspension that began 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 Walt Disney Company said in a statement.
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
It said, “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 network took Kimmel’s late-night show off the air last week due to remarks he made following the death of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk. In his monologue on Monday, Kimmel said, “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 There was mourning in the silence between the pointing of fingers. The late-night hosts’ remarks about Kirk’s death “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” according to Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates in the United States. ABC, which has aired Kimmel’s show since 2003, moved quickly after Nexstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Sinclair, which also owns dozens of ABC affiliates, said last week it would not return Jimmy Kimmel Live! “until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform,” to its radio and television stations. It asked Kimmel to apologize directly to Kirk’s family and make a “meaningful personal donation” to Turning Point USA, the conservative youth advocacy group Kirk founded and led up until his death.
Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show to return on Tuesday
