Jimmy Kimmel returned to the ABC lineup for most American households on Tuesday night, telling his audience “it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
“As I was saying before I was interrupted. If you’re just joining us, we are preempting your regularly scheduled encore episode of ‘Celebrity Family Feud’ to bring you this special report: I’m happy to be here tonight,” Kimmel began.
“I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days — I’ve heard from all the people all over in the world. Over the last six days, everyone I have ever met has reached out 10 or 11 times.”
“I want to thank everyone who checked in with me. I especially want to mention all my fellow late night talk show hosts. My friend Stephen Colbert, who found himself in this predicament. My friend Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, James Corden, Arsenio, Kathy, Wanda, Chelsea, even Jay reached out. I heard from late night hosts in other countries.”
An hour before the episode aired, however, President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC for bringing Kimmel back, suggesting he is once again going to go after the network.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.”
“He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do,” he continued. “Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
Regardless, Kimmel’s return came six days after Disney “indefinitely suspended” the late night host on Wednesday due to his Sept. 15 coverage of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
“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 Monday statement. “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.”
However, local affiliate owners Nexstar and Sinclair both decided to still preempt Tuesday’s new episode across their stations.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” a Sinclair spokesperson told TheWrap on Monday. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
“We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve,” Nexstar echoed in a Tuesday statement. “In the meantime, we note that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. PT on ABC.
