Jimmy Kimmel returns with response to the FCC, free speech and message of compassion

After nearly a week off the air, ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel returned Tuesday night to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The program began with a montage of news clips responding to the host’s return. As the late-night show was introduced, the studio audience gave him a lengthy, cheering ovation, with chants of “Jimmy! Jimmy!”

“Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted,” he began.

That opening line was likely a nod to another famous late-night host: Jack Paar, who used those same words upon returning to NBC’s “Tonight Show” in 1960 from a short leave after censors cut a joke of his.

As for Kimmel, he said, “I’m happy to be here tonight with you” to even more thunderous applause. “I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol. It’s been overwhelming.”

He said that he’s heard from all of the people in the world in the past six days. That included fellow late night hosts, old bosses, and messages from around the world.

“I also want to thank all of you,” he said. “Maybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway.”

He cited support from conservative voices Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens and “my old pal” Ted Cruz.

Watch Kimmel’s opening segment:

“I’ve been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight and the truth is what I have to say isn’t going to make a whole lot of indifference. I want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human, and that is you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, choking up as he referred to the death of right wing activist Charlie Kirk.

While Kimmel did not apologize, he expressed understanding for the viewpoint that his remarks were insensitive.

“I don’t think the murderer of Charlie Kirk represents anyone, this was a sick person violence was a solution, and it isn’t.”

After showing a video clip of President Donald Trump saying that Kimmel has “no talent” and “no ratings,” Kimmel said, “He did his best to cancel me and instead he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein Files to distract us from this now.”

Kimmel had very kind words for ABC, and thanked them for allowing him back on the air — even if he wasn’t pleased about being pulled off the air for nearly a week

“I never imagined I would be in a situation like this, I barely paid attention in school. But one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.”

Wrapping up his lengthy opening monologue, Kimmel became emotional again as he spoke about Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk. “On Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is an example we should follow.”

He praised solidarity from the right, left and middle. “Maybe the silver lining in this is that we found one thing we an agree on.”

Kimmel was yanked Sept. 17 by ABC — “preempted indefinitely” — after controversy over comments he made on the show in response to the killing of right wing political activist Charlie Kirk.

During his Sept. 15 monologue, 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

In response to Kimmel’s comments and the subsequent backlash through social media, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr appeared on conservative influencer Benny Johnson’s podcast on Wednesday. He said, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Later that day, media companies Nexstar and Sinclair, which own about 25% of ABC affiliates between them, both announced intentions to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” That evening, ABC pulled Kimmel’s show until further notice.

A firestorm of backlash and congratulations erupted in the wake of ABC’s announcement. Many fans immediately sprung into action to cancel their Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ subscriptions, a move aimed at The Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company.

Famous names including former president Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien reacted negatively to the news in the days following. Hollywood unions SAG-AFTRA and the WGA also released statements condemning Kimmel’s suspension. Critics of ABC’s move cited concerns of government overreach and censorship.

Conservative voices, including President Donald Trump, weighed in as well. Last Wednesday night, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote. “Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.”

About an hour before the first new episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was set to air on Tuesday night on the East Coast, Trump made another Truth Social post on the matter, stating in part that “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. 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.”

After announcing on Monday that Kimmel’s show would return on Tuesday, ABC told Deadline, “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,” a spokesman for ABC told Deadline. “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.”

They made the decision following “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy.”

Also on Monday, Carr insisted that his comments on Johnson’s podcast were not a threat to Kimmel. He stated that the “easy way” to which he referred would include FCC-licensed local stations and networks like ABC negotiating with one another whenever questions of “news distortion” arise.

He continued, “Now, if they don’t, there’s a way that is not as easy, which is someone can file a complaint at the FCC, and then the FCC, by law, as set up by Congress, has to adjudicate that complaint. And what I’ve been very clear in the context of the Kimmel episode, is the FCC, and myself in particular, have expressed no view on the ultimate merits.”

Areas where the local ABC station is owned by Nexstar and Sinclair did not see “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday night. Both companies stated earlier on Tuesday that they would continue to black out the program.

Kimmel made no public comment during the period of his time off-air, with the exception of one post on social network Bluesky earlier on Tuesday. The post read “Missing this guy today” and featured a photo of Kimmel with deceased television great Norman Lear.

It is clear that Kimmel’s show — and late night in general — will remain a political battleground for the foreseeable future.