NEW YORK — Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television Tuesday after a nearly weeklong suspension and, in an emotional monologue where he appeared close to tears, said that he wasn\u2019t trying to joke about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no illusions about changing anyone\u2019s mind, but I do want to make something clear, because it\u2019s 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,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything funny about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he wasn\u2019t trying to blame any specific group \u201cfor the actions of what … was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.\u201d He said he understood his remarks last week to some \u201cfelt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he made no apologies. And he criticized the ABC affiliates who took his show off the air. Two stations groups that represent about a quarter of ABC stations, Sinclair and Nexstar, ordered their outlets not to show Kimmel on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not American. It\u2019s un-American,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kimmel praises supporters and Kirk\u2019s widow<\/p>\n
The incident triggered a national discussion about freedom of speech and President Donald Trump\u2019s ability to police the words of journalists, commentators and even comics. ABC suspended Kimmel\u2019s show last Wednesday following criticism of his remarks about the aftermath of Kirk\u2019s killing. But the network brought him back following a backlash against parent company Disney.<\/p>\n
Kimmel thanked many supporters, including fellow late-night hosts past and present and even a former boss at a radio station in Seattle who checked in with him last week. He also singled out people he knows aren\u2019t fans of his comedy but stood up for his right to speak, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes courage for them to speak out against this administration,\u201d he said. \u201cThey did, and they deserve credit for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel nearly broke down again in praising Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika, who publicly forgave her husband\u2019s killer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is an example we should follow,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was … 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. And not this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel admitted that he was mad when ABC suspended him, but praised his bosses for putting him back on the air. \u201cUnjustly, this puts them at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
He mocked Trump for criticizing him for bad ratings. \u201cHe tried his best to cancel me and instead he forced millions of people to watch this show,\u201d Kimmel said.<\/p>\n
The decisions by Sinclair and Nexstar left ABC stations in Washington, D.C.; St. Louis; Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia among the cities airing something else. WJLA-TV, the Sinclair-owned station in Washington, instead aired a newscast and an episode of the chain\u2019s show, \u201cThe National Desk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel\u2019s suspension came after an angry reaction to comments he made in monologues early last week. A relentless Trump critic in his comedy, Kimmel suggested that many Trump supporters were trying to capitalize on Kirk\u2019s death and were \u201cdesperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
FCC chair accuses Kimmel of misleading the public<\/p>\n
Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr last week said it appeared that Kimmel was trying to \u201cdirectly mislead the American public\u201d with his remarks about Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man charged with Kirk\u2019s killing, and his motives. Those motives remain unclear. Authorities say Robinson grew up in a conservative family, but his mother told investigators his son had turned left politically in the last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr said before ABC announced the suspension. \u201cThese companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those remarks were key to the backlash, with Cruz saying that Carr acted like \u201ca mafioso.\u201d Hundreds of entertainment luminaries, including Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Aniston, signed a letter circulated by the American Civil Liberties Union that called ABC\u2019s move \u201ca dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Podcaster Joe Rogan weighed in Tuesday on Kimmel\u2019s side. \u201cI definitely don\u2019t think that the government should be involved — ever — in dictating what a comedian can or can\u2019t say in a monologue,\u201d Rogan said. \u201cYou are crazy for supporting this because this will be used on you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some consumers punished ABC parent Disney by cancelling subscriptions to its streaming services.<\/p>\n
Trump had hailed Kimmel\u2019s suspension and criticized his return, writing on his Truth Social platform: \u201cI can\u2019t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back … Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who\u2019s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.\u201d<\/p>\n
Actor Robert De Niro appeared on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d on Tuesday, impersonating Carr being interviewed by Kimmel. De Niro, as Carr, said the FCC had a new motto, \u201cSticks and stones can break your bones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t there more to the saying, Kimmel asked, that words can never hurt you?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can hurt you now,\u201d De Niro responded, saying you have to make sure to say the right ones.<\/p>\n
Kimmel takes stage to a long standing ovation, soaks in the cheers<\/p>\n
Kimmel took the stage to a long standing ovation and chants of \u201cJimmy, Jimmy.\u201d One audience member, Walter Bates, said after the taping that Kimmel\u2019s discussion of Kirk\u2019s widow \u201cwas a very moving moment. I got very emotional and so did my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s administration has used threats, lawsuits and federal government pressure to try to exert more control over the media industry. Trump sued ABC and CBS over news coverage, which the companies settled. Trump has also filed defamation lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and successfully urged Congress to strip federal funding from NPR and PBS.<\/p>\n
After pulling out of her planned performance at the premiere of Hulu\u2019s Lilith Fair documentary in protest over Kimmel\u2019s suspension, singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan appeared on Kimmel\u2019s show as the musical guest. McLachlan had been booked on the show prior to the preemption, a representative told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The other guest was actor Glen Powell.<\/p>\n
The suspension happened at a time when the late-night landscape is shifting. Shows are losing viewers, in part because many watch highlights the next day online. CBS announced the cancellation of \u201cLate Show\u201d host Stephen Colbert\u2019s show over the summer. Kimmel\u2019s contract with ABC reportedly lasts through May.<\/p>\n
Colbert, in his own monologue Monday shortly after ABC announced Kimmel would return, grabbed his recently won Emmy Award for outstanding talk series, saying, \u201cOnce more, I am the only martyr on late night!\u201d<\/p>\n
——<\/p>\n
By David Bauder<\/p>\n
Associated Press journalists Maria Sherman and Hillel Italie in New York, Alicia Rancilio in Detroit and Liam McEwan in Los Angeles contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television Tuesday after a nearly weeklong suspension and, in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[76,45,49,48,361,75,77,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-166466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-celebrities","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-international","15":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166466","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=166466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}