{"id":37071,"date":"2025-09-22T20:59:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/37071\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T20:59:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:59:06","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-live-returning-tuesday-as-abc-lifts-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/37071\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel Live! Returning Tuesday as ABC Lifts Suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJimmy Kimmel<\/a> is getting back on the air.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ABC<\/a> late night host is returning to broadcast on Tuesday following a brief but monumental suspension<\/a> that sparked a national debate over the Trump administration\u2019s pressure tactics and the modern limits and consequences of free speech.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast 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,\u201d ABC parent The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement Monday. \u201cIt is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.\u00a0We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move follows an extraordinary week in the media that kicked off with Kimmel making a somewhat vaguely worded on-air comment on the Sept. 15 edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live! about Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassin that could easily be read as suggesting the suspect was a MAGA conservative \u2014 despite evidence to the contrary. The quote went viral, sparking plenty of online backlash.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC\u2019s affiliate licenses over the comment. Affiliate groups Nexstar \u2014 which is seeking FCC approval for an upcoming merger \u2014 and Sinclair told ABC they would preempt Kimmel\u2019s show (Nexstar insisted in a subsequent statement that its decision was made independent of Carr\u2019s comments, but the timing made that tough to believe).<\/p>\n

\n\tBehind the scenes<\/a>, sources say Kimmel wasn\u2019t planning to apologize on that night\u2019s show and instead was going to defend his original comments as being taken out of context and \u201cgrossly mischaracterized\u201d by MAGA, which Disney brass thought would only inflame the situation. Disney\/ABC then announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! was \u201csuspended indefinitely.\u201d On Thursday, a follow-up meeting between Kimmel and Disney execs reportedly ended in a stalemate, with Kimmel sticking to his stated plan of unapologetically defending himself.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite Kimmel\u2019s return, it is not immediately clear if his show will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel\u2019s show on its stations until the late night host apologized for his comments, met with Sinclair representatives and made a donation to Turning Point, the organization that Kirk founded. Sinclair, it should be noted, owns the ABC station in the Washington, D.C., metro area, among other markets.<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar, similarly, could also choose to continue to preempt the show, though of course it would still be accessible online across the country after it runs on ABC.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe suspension drew quick praise from President Trump and some vocal right-wing \u201cFAFO\u201d Kimmel critics online, but few others. <\/p>\n

\n\tInstead, it sparked a massive outpouring of criticism of Disney, Nexstar and Sinclair for caving to pressure. Media pundits, politicians, Hollywood unions, celebrities, other talk show hosts and even some Republican leaders (such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul) condemned the series of the events as a dangerous step toward networks becoming state-run media, with many framing it as a potential \u201ctipping point\u201d moment if Disney didn\u2019t reverse its decision. Some people online pledged to unsubscribe and boycott Disney subsidiaries such as Disney+ and Hulu.<\/p>\n

\n\tCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X, \u201cThe @GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.\u201d Former President\u00a0Barack Obama<\/a>\u00a0also weighed in, writing, \u201cAfter years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBen Stiller wrote on X, \u201cThis isn\u2019t right.\u201d Jamie Lee Curtis \u2014 who previously shared a post grieving over Kirk \u2014 expressed her support for Kimmel. Emmy winner Jean Smart said she was \u201chorrified\u201d by the move. Podcast pioneer Marc Maron wrote, \u201cIf you have any concern or belief in real freedom or the constitution and free speech, this is. This is the deciding moment, this is what authoritarianism looks like in this country, it\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHollywood unions \u2014 including SAG-AFTRA and the WGA \u2014 slammed the decision. \u201cThe right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other \u2014 to disturb, even \u2014 is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people,\u201d the WGA wrote in a statement. \u201cIt is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.\u201d On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union released an open letter<\/a> signed by some 400 actors, writers, musicians and filmmakers \u2014\u00a0among them Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Ramy Youssef and Kerry Washington \u2014\u00a0condemning Kimmel\u2019s suspension and supporting free speech.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven a voice within Carr\u2019s own FCC, commissioner Anna M.\u00a0Gomez, issued a lengthy statement criticizing the chairman\u2019s bullying. \u201cWe cannot allow an inexcusable act of political violence to be twisted into a justification for government censorship and control,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThis FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, Kimmel\u2019s return also comes at a tumultuous moment for late night TV more generally, with Stephen Colbert\u2019s Late Show set to end<\/a> in May after being canceled by CBS. The decision by CBS raised eyebrows across the industry, coming just days before the FCC approved the transfer of broadcast licenses to its new owner Skydance, effectively allowing the deal to close.<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel\u2019s current contract, it should be noted, ends next year, and he has raised the specter of retirement in the past. Whether the suspension by ABC means that he is more likely to exit, or double down and stay with the company, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel is getting back on the air. The ABC late night host is returning to broadcast on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2976,93,61,60,3484,282],"class_list":["post-37071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-abc","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}