LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Kimmel made an emotional return to his late-night show Tuesday night after a nearly weeklong suspension for remarks he made after conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n
For 16 minutes, Kimmel mixed humour, pointed messages and emotion to talk about his suspension, the support he\u2019s received and praised Kirk\u2019s widow.<\/p>\n
Here are seven key moments from his opening monologue, edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n
Kimmel talks about the support he\u2019s received<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours. Me or the CEO of Tylenol. So it\u2019s been overwhelming. I\u2019ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days. I\u2019ve heard from all the people in the world over the last six days, everyone I have ever met has reached out 10 or 11 times.<\/p>\n
Weird characters from my past are emai\u2014 the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle \u2014 where we are not airing tonight by the way \u2014 Sorry, Seattle. His name is Larry. In 1989, Larry tried to force me to do a bit called jokes for donuts, where people would call in with a joke and I would give them donuts. I refused to do it. And then I made a lot of fun of Larry for suggesting it. And eventually Larry fired me and I had to move back in with my parents. But even he wrote in to cheer me up. Thank you Larry, and I want to thank everyone who checked in on the show.<\/p>\n
Some that I do especially want to mention are my fellow late night talk show hosts, my friend Stephen Colbert. He\u2019s found himself in this predicament. My friends Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Conan O\u2019Brien, James Corden, Arsenio, Kathy, Wanda, Chelsea, even Jay (Leno) reached out. I heard from late-night hosts in other countries, from Ireland and from Germany. The guy in Germany offered me a job.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine?<\/p>\n
This country has become so authoritarian, the Germans are like, \u201cCome here. Cut loose.\u201d My boyhood idols, Howard Stern and David Letterman, were very considerate and kind and I feel honored to be part of a group of people that knows what goes into doing a show like this. And I also want to thank all of you \u2014 I do \u2014 who supported our show, cared enough to do something about it, to make your voices heard so that mine could be heard. I will never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel on support from surprising places<\/p>\n
Kimmel: \u201cAnd maybe, weirdly, maybe, most of all, I want to thank the people who don\u2019t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway. I never would have imagined if, like Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz who believe it or not, said something very beautiful on my behalf.<\/p>\n
Ted Cruz clip: \u201cI hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel: \u201cOh, wait, no, not that \u2014 the other part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ted Cruz clip: \u201cBut let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying (crosstalk) what you can and can\u2019t say what you the media have said, we\u2019re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don\u2019t say what we like, that will end up bad for conservatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel: \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right. He\u2019s absolutely right. This affects all of us, including him. I mean, think about it. If Ted Cruz can\u2019t speak freely, then he can\u2019t cast spells on the Smurfs.<\/p>\n
Even though I don\u2019t agree with many of those people on most subjects, some of the things they say even make me want to throw up. It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration. They did, and they deserve credit for it. And thank for telling your followers that our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television, and that we have to stand up to it. \u201c<\/p>\n
Kimmel talks about Charlie Kirk<\/p>\n
\u201cI posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion. And I meant it. I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what, it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.<\/p>\n
But I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both. And for those who think I did, point a finger, I get why you\u2019re upset. If the situation was reversed, there\u2019s a good chance I\u2019d have felt the same way.<\/p>\n
I have many friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to, even though we don\u2019t agree on politics at all. I don\u2019t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution. And it isn\u2019t ever.<\/p>\n
And also, selfishly, I am, I am a person who gets a lot of threats. I get many ugly and scary threats against my life, my wife, my kids, my coworkers because of what I choose to say. And I know those threats don\u2019t come from the kind of people on the right who I know and love. So that\u2019s what I wanted to say on that subject. \u201c<\/p>\n
Kimmel on the FCC and chairman Brendan Carr<\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to think about this: Should the government be allowed to regulate which podcasts the cell phone companies and Wi-Fi providers are allowed to let you download to make sure they serve the public interest? You think that sounds crazy, but 10 years ago, this sounded crazy, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, telling an American company, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, and that these companies can find ways to change, conduct and take action on Kimmel or there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.<\/p>\n
In addition to being a direct violation of the First Amendment, is not a particularly intelligent threat to make in public. Ted Cruz said he sounded like a mafioso. Although I don\u2019t know, if you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long. This genius said it on a podcast.<\/p>\n
Kimmel says Trump has boosted ratings<\/p>\n
\u201cYou almost have to feel sorry for him. He tried, did his best to cancel me. 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. \u201d<\/p>\n
ABC\u2019s \u2018condition\u2019 for Kimmel returning and the host\u2019s gratitude<\/p>\n
\u201cI know a lot of people have been asking me if there are conditions for my return to the air, and there is one. Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and, I have agreed to do it.<\/p>\n
Here we go: To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your smart TV or TV connected device. (laughter)<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been, um, fortunate to work at a company that has allowed me to do the show the way we want to do it for almost 23 years. I\u2019ve done almost 4,000 shows on ABC. And over that time, the people who run this network have allowed me to evolve and to stretch the boundaries of what was once traditional for a late night talk show, even when it made them uncomfortable, which I do a lot.<\/p>\n
Every night, they\u2019ve defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects that I think are important by allowing me to use their platform. And I am very grateful for that. With that said, I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on. I did not agree with that decision and I told them that and we had many conversations. I shared my point of view. They shared theirs. We talked it through and at the end, even though they didn\u2019t have to, they really didn\u2019t have to. This is a giant company. We have short attention spans, and I am a tiny part of the Disney Corporation. They welcomed me back on the air and I thank them for that. But unfortunately, and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel says to follow Erika Kirk\u2019s example of forgiveness<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a moment over the weekend, a very beautiful moment. I don\u2019t know if you saw this. On Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is an example we should follow.<\/p>\n
If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was. That\u2019s, that\u2019s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. And I hope it touches many. And if there\u2019s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Kimmel made an emotional return to his late-night show Tuesday night after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-166381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}