Jimmy Kimmel will return to late-night television on Tuesday almost a week after being pulled off air for comments made about the death of Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel, one of the best-known personalities in American entertainment, had his show suspended indefinitely after backlash to a monologue last Monday.
The host said President Trump’s supporters were “desperately trying to characterise” Kirk’s alleged killer as “anything other than one of them”.
Investigators are yet to say why 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who has been charged with murder, allegedly shot the conservative influencer with a rifle in Utah.
Protests were held against the star’s suspension on Monday in Los Angeles
MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY/GETTY IMAGES
Disney’s decision to sideline Kimmel provoked a furious response from Hollywood and hundreds of celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston and Robert De Niro, decried the move in an open letter published on Monday.
• ‘Terrifying’: comedy writers blast Trump and FCC after Jimmy Kimmel suspension
Now, Disney has said Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to ABC on Tuesday after days of “thoughtful conversations”.
Disney, which owns ABC, the network that broadcasts Jimmy Kimmel Live!, said: “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.
“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 decision to bring Kimmel back caps an extraordinary week for Disney and its chief executive Bob Iger, who has faced mounting criticism from within Hollywood.
Kimmel was taken off air amid pressure from affiliate stations who said they would refuse to air his show due to the Kirk monologue.
Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened regulatory action against ABC if the network did not punish Kimmel. That prompted a backlash from some conservatives who feared government overreach and harm to freedom of speech.
Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC
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Kimmel, an ABC veteran who alongside his late-night duties has also hosted the Oscars several times, was reported to be planning to address the controversy in another monologue before his suspension.
Despite his return, Kimmel’s show will still be unavailable across swathes of America after Sinclair Broadcast Group said it would instead show “news programming”. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” Sinclair said in a statement.
Sinclair is the largest owner of ABC stations, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with 38 across the country including the affiliate that serves the Washington DC metro area. Nexstar Media Group, the other broadcasting giant that pressured Disney over Kimmel, is yet to make an announcement on whether its stations will broadcast the show when it returns.
Nexstar is pursuing a massive merger deal that requires FCC approval.
The decision to bring Kimmel back on air was likely to have been welcomed in Hollywood. It came hours after an open letter was released from the American Civil Liberties Union and more than 430 film, television and stage stars. It said the suspension was a “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation”.
“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,” the letter says. “We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power — because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”