JIMMY Kimmel’s suspension has ended and ABC has confirmed the late night host will return to the air.
In a statement obtained by The U.S. Sun, ABC said they had thoughtful conversations with the comedian since his show was pulled from the air over comments he made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
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ABC announced Jimmy Kimmel’s return to air on Monday after having pulled his show just before it taped on Wednesday, September 17Credit: Getty Images – Getty
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Kimmel was pulled from air after receiving backlash following his opening monologue on Monday September 15Credit: YouTube/NBCLA
Kimmel will return to his usual late-night slot on Tuesday, the network confirmed.
The statement read: “Last 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.Â
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.Â
“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Kimmel’s show was suspended on Wednesday night following backlash over a previous monologue about activist Charlie Kirk‘s death.
Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended on Wednesday night following backlash over a controversial monologue he delivered regarding the death of activist Charlie Kirk.
As The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed last week, the decision to pull Kimmel’s show was made just minutes before the crew started taping on Wednesday afternoon.
CELEBRITY REACTIONS POUR IN
Former daytime host, Ellen DeGeneres, took to Instagram and reacted to the news, writing, “Cannot wait to hear Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue tomorrow.”
Rosie O’Donnell shared an Instagram post and captioned it “the sun will come out – tomorrow,” and hash tagged Jimmy Kimmel Live
CHAOS ON SET
“Things transpired very fast. Word filtered down to the individual stations around 3 pm that Jimmy would get pulled, and it sent station heads panicking,” the insider shared.
“Jimmy and the crew were getting ready to film when, at 3:45 pm, news broke widely, and that’s how the crew found out. They were shocked.”
According to the show’s website, taping typically begins at 4:30 pm. The insider added that Disney/ABC staffers had already been feeling uneasy in recent weeks due to heightened tensions.
Adding to the confusion, the source revealed, “ABC wouldn’t give a statement to affiliates so they could properly cover the story themselves.
That left some stations in a situation where they had to make the call to skip coverage of the Kimmel story altogether in their newscasts.”
Meanwhile, Kimmel’s $48 million contract with Disney, which owns ABC, is set to end in 2026.
WHAT HAPPENED TO KIMMEL
Kimmel’s future became uncertain after media company Nexstar urged its ABC-affiliated stations to stop airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! “for the foreseeable future.”
In a statement, Nexstar said, “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
EXACTLY WHAT KIMMEL SAID THAT GOT HIM YANKED
This is Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue from Monday, September 15, that got the show pulled from air.
Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
“In between the finger-pointing, the White House flew the flag at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president was taking this,” he continued before the show cut to a clip of Trump.
The president was seen standing on the White House lawn as a reporter asked him how he was “holding up” a day and a half following Kirk’s death.
“I think very good,” said Trump before abruptly pointing to trucks and saying they are starting construction on the new White House ballroom.
The show then cut back to Kimmel, who said, “He’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” before the audience burst out in laughter.
“This is not how an adult grieved the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish. OK?”
Kimmel said this wasn’t the first time that Trump has dodged questions about Kirk, and the show cut to an interview the president had with Fox & Friends the morning after the conservative activist’s death.
Trump told the hosts that he was chatting with architects about the White House project when he learned about the shooting before the show cut back to Kimmel.
“And then we installed the most beautiful chandelier,” mocked Kimmel.
Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, criticised Jimmy’s remarks as “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”
He added, “Continuing to give Jimmy a platform is simply not in the public interest at the current time. We have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
TRUMP PRAISES ABC
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump weighed in on the controversy, praising ABC’s temporary decision while taking aim at Jimmy Kimmel.
During a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, Trump remarked, “Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else. And he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk, and Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person.”
“You can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent,” Trump added.
KIRK’S ASSASSINATION
Charlie Kirk was killed on 10 September while engaging with students at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Tyler Robinson, 22, allegedly fired a single shot at the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, according to officials.
Robinson turned himself in 33 hours later after confessing the crime to his family, Utah Governor Spencer Cox confirmed.
THE VIEW NEXT?
As The U.S. Sun revealed last week, The View staff was sent into panic mode after Kimmel was pulled from air, and as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested the morning show come under additional scrutiny.
He said during a podcast with conservative pundit Scott Jennings, that aired on Thursday, that the FCC was looking at whether The View is a “bona fide news” program, following Jimmy’s suspension earlier this week.
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Kimmel got into hot water after making comments about activist Charlie Kirk’s killer in his opening monologue on Monday, September 15Credit: Getty
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Kimmel will be back on air on Tuesday after Disney claimed pulling him from the air last week was an attempt not to inflame a tense situationCredit: Getty
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Disney/ ABC released a statement on Monday saying they had conversations with Kimmel and announced he would return to air on TuesdayCredit: Getty