The network that suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late night television show has reversed its decision in the wake of public backlash and concerns over censorship of free speech.
“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 Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company said in a statement on 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.”
The comments in question were made on 16 September, when Kimmel made a joke on air about MAGA conservatives trying to distance themselves from the ideology of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer.
“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 doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on the show, referring to a theory that arose after Kirk’s assasination that the shooter might have been a Republican.
In response to the joke, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr issued a warning to the ABC network, implying that they need to take action against Kimmel or there would be consequences from the US federal government.
“[This] appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person,” Carr said in an interview with YouTuber Benny Johnson last week.
“What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters … have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Shortly after Carr’s threats to the network, Nexstar Media and Sinclair, both ABC affiliates and the country’s largest TV station owners, announced they would suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely.
News of the show’s suspension drew swift backlash from public media figures, as well as politicians across the spectrum, who warned that this was blatant censorship.
The American Civil Liberties Union created an open letter arguing that the suspension was “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation”, and more than 430 movie, TV and stage stars, as well as directors, comedians and writers signed their name in agreement.
Calls for reinstatement of Kimmel’s show also came from fellow late-night hosts, like John Oliver, who urged his viewers to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu.
Stephen Colbert, whose own show is set to be cancelled soon by CBS, stood behind Kimmel with a powerful statement: “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive.”
Kimmel is a well-known presenter, having hosted the Academy Awards four times. He has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC since 2003, and is a frequent target of US president Donald Trump, who said suspension of the show was “great news for America”, while also calling for other late night hosts to be fired.
Trump’s administration has pursued threats and government pressure towards the media industry in other instances as well, with defamation lawsuits filed against The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Republicans in Congress have also stripped federal funding from NPR and PBS.
Last Thursday, former president Barack Obama addressed the trend, writing on X: “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”
As for Disney’s suspension actions towards Kimmel, following Carr’s comments, even conservatives have been critical of the move. The Republican from Texas, Ted Cruz related it to something “right out of ‘Goodfellas’,” adding “that’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar, going: ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.”
Another show, broadcast by ABC, The View weighed in on the controversy Monday, with co-host Whoopi Goldberg opening the show by saying, “no one silences us”, and condemning Disney’s decision.
Kimmel himself is expected to address the issue when his show returns to air on Tuesday.