Bob Iger, Disney chief executive, and Dana Walden, who oversees television and streaming for the group, made the decision to halt the show but continued to discuss its future with Kimmel<\/a> in recent days. <\/p>\n \u201cWe 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 the company said.<\/p>\n Disney had faced pushback for the decision to suspend Kimmel<\/a>, with protesters picketing outside ABC studios and celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston and Meryl Streep, criticising the move. Hollywood unions condemned the suspension, with the screenwriters\u2019s guild calling it \u201ccorporate cowardice\u201d. <\/p>\n In his monologue last Monday, Kimmel accused Trump supporters of seeking to win political points from the Kirk shooting and \u201cdesperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them\u201d. <\/p>\n Following the comments, Disney faced criticism from President Donald Trump and Brendan Carr, head of the Federal Communications Commission. \u201cThis is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,\u201d Carr said last week. \u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump applauded the suspension of Kimmel, a longtime foil, and suggested that TV networks should lose their broadcast licenses for being \u201cagainst\u201d him. <\/p>\n \u201cThey give me only bad publicity, or press,\u201d Trump told reporters on Air Force One last week. \u201cI would think maybe their license should be taken away. It would be up to Brendan Carr.\u201d<\/p>\n Stripping a broadcast license over political commentary is extremely unusual and possibly unconstitutional, said Bill Carter, an author and writer about the US television industry for more than 40 years. <\/p>\n \u201cThreatening the license of the broadcast stations if they don\u2019t do the administration\u2019s bidding has never been done before,\u201d Carter said. \u201cIf it\u2019s not illegal, it seems to be at least unconstitutional in terms of the First Amendment. Stations only lose their licenses very rarely.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Kimmel suspension was the latest in a series of controversies involving media groups that have drawn Trump\u2019s ire. <\/p>\n ABC and CBS both paid $16mn to settle lawsuits Trump had filed against them over news reports in the run-up to the presidential election. Trump also has launched multibillion-dollar suits against The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for their reporting about him.\u00a0(A judge struck down the suit against the Times last week for being too long <\/a>and gave Trump\u2019s legal team 28 days to refile it.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n
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