Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension from ABC is over.
On Monday, Disney, the parent company of the ABC television network, announced that the late-night host would resume taping new episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday, less than a week after he was pulled off the air for comments related to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“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,” Disney said in a statement to KTLA. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
The statement continued, “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.”
ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel followed a remark the host made about political reaction to Kirk’s shooting, and alleged gunman Tyler Robinson, 20, during his opening monologue last Monday.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel told viewers.
This prompted a response from FCC chairman Brendan Carr, an appointee of President Trump, who called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and threatened regulatory action against broadcasters who carried the comedian’s program.
“These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr told conservative commentator Benny Johnson on a podcast.
Nexstar Media Group, which owns KTLA and network affiliates in dozens of markets across the U.S., announced Wednesday that its ABC-affiliated stations would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” due to the remarks. ABC followed with the suspension shortly after.
Sinclair, another major broadcaster, also announced it would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” and its decision remained unchanged after Disney’s announcement on Monday.
In a statement, Sinclair said, “Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
As of Monday evening, Nexstar had not announced whether it would resume airing the program.
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