{"id":191063,"date":"2025-10-05T09:12:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T09:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/191063\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T09:12:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T09:12:24","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-returns-from-suspension-late-night-show-reaches-ratings-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/191063\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel returns from suspension, late-night show reaches ratings high"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON – Millions of people tuned in to \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d on Sept 23 to watch the host\u2019s return to late-night television after a nearly week-long suspension, propelling the show to a 10-year ratings high among adult viewers, ABC said.<\/p>\n

The network said 6.26 million viewers watched Kimmel as he used sincerity and humour to thank his supporters while addressing remarks he made on Sept 15 about the <\/p>\n

man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/p>\n

<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It was the highest-rated regularly scheduled episode of the late-night show, which typically attracts an average of 1.42 million nightly viewers, ABC said.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Kimmel Live! achieved the ratings milestone, even though the show did not reach about one-quarter of American households. <\/p>\n

ABC affiliates in several major markets did not carry the show, which aired hours after network parent Walt Disney lifted Kimmel\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n

On social media, the monologue attracted nearly 26 million views, ABC reported, including 15.3 million views on Alphabet\u2019s YouTube, and another 6.3 million on Meta\u2019s Instagram by the late afternoon of Sept 24.<\/p>\n

His monologue featured video of Mr Trump speaking from Air Force One, saying the late-night comedian has \u201cno talent\u201d and \u201cno ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I do tonight!\u201d said a smiling Kimmel, as the studio audience stood in applause. \u201cYou almost have to feel sorry for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimmel <\/p>\n

returned to the air<\/p>\n

<\/a> six days after his remarks about Mr Kirk\u2019s accused killer provoked social media outrage and pressure from the Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

Disney\u2019s decision to cut short Kimmel\u2019s exile marked a high-profile act of corporate defiance in the face of Mr Trump\u2019s escalating crackdown on perceived enemies in the media through litigation and regulatory threats.<\/p>\n

Disney was also under pressure from Kimmel\u2019s fans, some of whom were cancelling subscriptions to the company\u2019s streaming services Disney+ and Hulu.<\/p>\n

Kimmel alluded to that in his monologue, joking that the company had asked him to read some remarks on the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your smart TV or TV-connected device,\u201d he read.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Kimmel defended political satire against \u201cbullying\u201d from Mr Trump and officials in his administration.<\/p>\n

Kimmel\u2019s voice choked with emotion, moments after he took the stage to a standing ovation, and he said: \u201cIt was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything funny about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Kimmel said Mr Trump\u2019s supporters were eager to characterise Mr Kirk\u2019s assassin \u201cas anything other than one of them\u201d and accused them of trying to \u201cscore political points\u201d from Mr Kirk\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n

Before the Sept 23 broadcast, Mr Trump said on his Truth Social online platform that he \u201ccan\u2019t believe\u201d ABC gave Kimmel back his show, and hinted at <\/p>\n

further action against the network.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s post called Kimmel \u201cyet another arm\u201d of the Democratic National Committee and characterised the comedian\u2019s jokes about the Republican administration as \u201ca major illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we\u2019re going to test ABC out on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, Mr Trump had said Kimmel was fired for \u201cbad ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The late-night format has been struggling for years, as more viewers have abandoned cable television and migrated to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller audiences and declining ad revenues for traditional TV.<\/p>\n

Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair both opted on Sept 23 to keep Jimmy Kimmel Live off their combined 70 owned and operated ABC stations, which account for about 23 per cent of US households. <\/p>\n

That meant the show was not seen over the air in places like Seattle; Salt Lake City, Utah; Nashville and New Orleans, among other markets. It also did not air in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

Nexstar said on Sept 24 that it is continuing to evaluate the status of the show, which it will continue to pre-empt on its ABC-affiliated local television stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are engaged in productive discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Still, Disney offers Kimmel\u2019s show for viewing on a number of streaming apps, which are accessible all over the country.<\/p>\n

Following Kimmel\u2019s remarks last week, US Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threatened an investigation of ABC and its affiliates. He urged television stations to drop Kimmel\u2019s show or face possible fines and revocation of their broadcast licences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Mr Carr said on Sept 17, which brought calls for his resignation from Democrats and sharp criticism from Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n

On Sept 24, US Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN that programmers should make decisions and the government should not coerce broadcasters, but stopped short of saying either Mr Carr or Mr Trump made mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t an area that I think the FCC ought to be wandering into,\u201d Mr Thune said.<\/p>\n

In his monologue, Kimmel thanked Mr Cruz and other conservatives who did not support his views but supported his right to express them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right,\u201d Kimmel said, to a chorus of laughter. REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON – Millions of people tuned in to \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d on Sept 23 to watch the host\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-191063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191063","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=191063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}