Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will return to ABC this week, ending a suspension that set off a national debate about government intimidation, corporate compliance, and freedom of speech. Disney, ABC’s parent company, confirmed the decision on Monday after facing days of backlash over its removal of Kimmel from the air.
“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 explained in its statement. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. 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.”
The suspension followed Kimmel’s September 15 monologue about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In his remarks, Kimmel said the “Maga gang” were “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and were attempting to “score political points from it.” He also mocked President Donald Trump’s reaction to Kirk’s killing, comparing it to “how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Two days later, Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, publicly threatened ABC affiliates during a podcast appearance. “There’s actions we can take on licensed broadcasters,” Carr said. “And frankly, I think that it’s sort of really past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say… we are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we licensed broadcasters are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of these distortions.”
Carr’s comments and ABC’s suspension drew condemnation from civil liberties groups and prompted organized resistance. The ACLU circulated a letter signed by hundreds of entertainers warning that Kimmel’s ouster amounted to state-driven censorship. “Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after our government threatened a private company with retaliation for Kimmel’s remarks. This is a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation,” the letter read. “This is unconstitutional and un-American. The government is threatening private companies and individuals that the president disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered.”
Street protests followed, as well as calls to boycott Disney+, Hulu, and other Disney-owned services. High-profile actors including Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, and Robert DeNiro joined the signatories condemning the suspension.
Inside the White House, Trump applauded Kimmel’s removal and went further, suggesting that some networks should have their licenses “taken away” for negative coverage of his administration. He declined to comment on Kimmel’s reinstatement when asked during a Monday event.
The FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, offered a starkly different response. She said she was “glad to see Disney find its courage in the face of clear government intimidation” and thanked Americans “across the ideological spectrum who protested against this blatant attempt to silence free speech.” She vowed to “combat these efforts to stifle free expression.”
Even with Kimmel set to return, the conflict remains unresolved. Sinclair, the largest ABC affiliate group in the country, announced it would not immediately restore the program. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” Sinclair said, after previously calling Kimmel’s comments “inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country.” Nexstar Media, another large affiliate owner, had already said it would not air Kimmel “for the foreseeable future.”
The turmoil underscored the extent to which political pressure and regulatory threats reverberate across the media landscape. Carr had thanked Nexstar “for doing the right thing” after its decision to drop the program. Nexstar is currently seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, raising questions about whether its programming choices reflected concerns over regulatory retaliation.
Meanwhile, late-night colleagues rallied to Kimmel’s defense. Jon Stewart quipped, “I want to say this seriously, that campaign that you all launched, pretending that you were going to cancel Hulu while secretly racing through four seasons of Only Murders in the Building – that really worked. Congratulations.” Stephen Colbert praised the decision as “wonderful news from my dear friend Jimmy and his amazing staff,” while Seth Meyers described the reinstatement as “a massive national backlash to Trump’s crackdown on free speech.”
Industry analysts said Disney faced “intense” blowback that grew impossible to ignore. Dylan Byers, of the media outlet Puck, told BBC Radio 4 that the company endured “a lot of hand-wringing” over how to reverse course and described the protests and celebrity opposition as overwhelming.
Kimmel, who has hosted his program since 2003 and four Academy Awards ceremonies, has not publicly commented on the suspension or his return. His guest for Tuesday’s broadcast is actor Glen Powell.
Whether affiliates air the show or substitute other programming will be the next test. For now, Kimmel’s reinstatement stands as an unusual victory for grassroots activism, civil liberties advocates, and Hollywood stars who united against what they say was an unprecedented attempt by government officials to silence political speech.
COMMENTS