Jimmy Kimmel Returning to ABC After Talk Show Suspension: When Will ‘Live!’ Be Back?
Less than one week after Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from ABC due to comments he made about Charlie Kirk, the late-night host is returning to the airwaves. Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return with new episodes on Tuesday, September 23.
“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. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” The Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, said in a statement, per Variety. “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’s suspension came on September 17 after threats from FCC chair Brendan Carr, which led to Nexstar, an affiliate network with dozens of local ABC channels, announcing that it would be preempting episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! due to comments he made about Kirk’s murderer.
The comments in question were made during Kimmel’s September 16 show. “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,” he said.
As Carr explained on a podcast, “[It] appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into the narrative that this [shooter] was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person. 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.”
The decision to suspend Kimmel sparked major backlash, with celebrities, politicians, talk show hosts, and more weighing in about how the move supported censorship and a violation of the First Amendment. Prior to ABC’s announcement that the talk show would be returning, 400 celebrities signed a petition in support of the late-night host and free speech.
Kimmel has not publicly spoken out about the controversy, but will likely have a lot to say when the show returns.
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Returns, Tuesday, 11:35 ET/PT, ABC
Conversation18 Comments
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C
It's about time someone stood up and done the right thing about government overreach concerning free speech. But we'll wait and see if Jimmy is allowed to be himself. He said nothing wrong to begin with!
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B
I'm sure Donnie's having a tantrum today.
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O
In the aftermath of this attack on Free of Expression in America, FCC chair Brendan Carr should be immediately fired, Nexstar, and Sinclare Broadcasting both owners of affiliate network with dozens of local ABC channels, should be boycotted for their instigation of this incident. The Nextar Tegna merger should NOT be approved and legislation should be introduced to break up these affiliate network groups into smaller sizes. These actions would help in keeping somthing like this from hapening again.
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Let's do the same for Stephen Colbert!!!!
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All I see is Disney bowing down to authoritarian regime kissing butt to an overly sensitive people who can’t face the truth. They’re taking away freedoms & rights which our forefathers guaranteed & our families fought enemies to protect us against these evils. Now we’re living under Nazi rule just like Russia or China it’s not right. Disney guess they expected all backlash from Jimmy’s supporters! Plus those of us who believe in the constitution!! First Amendment. Brendan Carr can stuff it.
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Guaranteed rights? So you love and support the 2nd amendment? Also China and Russia are communist-dictatorships which is nothing like the US, but please keep calling your president a Nazi…that hasn’t been the problem all along. We’ve heard it every hour on the hour for 10 years…time to try a new tactic cause this one ain’t working.
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Good news!
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P
I'm so disgusted with the way people think... Grow up . The man has issues and he deserves to be canceled . He's not funny. Hollywood makes me sick. There are no moral left , say do whatever you please noone cares... BS we care.
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Jimmy you are on TV to entertain me . I don’t need your political opinions ,you use this platform to make it crystal clear every night . But in this case you were so insensitive . Keep it to yourself Jimmy and tell some good old fashioned jokes . I will never watch you again . You are not funny .
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I doubt he's even reading this. And you sure wanted to get that off your chest, didn't you?
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I'm definitely taping Jimmy Kimmel tomorrow night! I'm not a regular viewer as I usually watch Colbert but this is an event for me, that's for sure!
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Thanks Jimmy for keeping it REAL!! Don't let the B's and B's get you down. Do not sink to their level. For myself, I love you and your show. Enough said!
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G
A bunch of idiots out there they voted for a man who wants to be king or a dictator and that’s what they’re doing to our constitution now they’re trying to shut us up and this is the time we need to speak out even louder. I give Hollywood a lot of credit for what they did and they cannot take the way to speech away from us. It’s in the constitution if they’re going to do that and take guns away from people so kids get killed in school how about that?
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With all the hoopla, one could almost think he doesn't lose to Greg Guttfeld in the ratings every night. But he sure does.
But who knows, maybe lying to his audience about the Kirk killing will be his Hugh Grant moment.
I mean, Democrats are much dumber than they were in the 90's. I should know. I was one back then.
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You must really love pumpkin pie.
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Maybe you shouldn't put yourself in a political box and think for yourself instead of falling for brainwashing.
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G
Let's see if Jimmy Kimmel saids anything to inflame the situation. Let's track his rating for the next six month, his ad revenue, the show's balance which is currently in the red.
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Can you write in proper English please?
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