Jimmy Kimmel to Return to ABC on Tuesday After Show’s Controversial Suspension

Jimmy Kimmel is getting back on the air.

The ABC late-night host is returning to broadcast on Tuesday following a brief-but-monumental suspension that sparked a national debate over the Trump Administration’s pressure tactics and the modern limits and consequences of free speech.

“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,” ABC parent The Walt Disney Company said in a statement Monday. 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 move follows an extraordinary week in the media that kicked off with Kimmel making a somewhat vaguely worded on-air comment on Monday about Charlie Kirk’s assassin that could easily be read as suggesting the suspect was a MAGA conservative — despite initial evidence to the contrary. The quote went viral, sparking, sparking plenty of online backlash.

On Wednesday, FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC’s affiliate licenses over the comment. Affiliate groups Nexstar — which is seeking FCC approval for an upcoming merger — and Sinclair told ABC they would pre-empt Kimmel’s show (Nexstar insisted in a subsequent statement that their decision was made independent of Carr’s comments, but the timing made that tough to believe).

Behind the scenes, sources says Kimmel wasn’t planning to apologize on Wednesday’s show and instead was going to defend his original comments as being taken out of context and “grossly mischaracterized” by MAGA, which Disney brass thought would only inflame the situation. Disney/ABC then announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! was “suspended indefinitely.” On Thursday, a follow-up meeting between Kimmel and Disney brass reportedly ended in a stalemate with Kimmel sticking to his stated plan of unapologetically defending himself.

Despite Kimmel’s return, it is not immediately clear if he will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel’s 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.

Nexstar, similarly, could also choose to continue to preempt the show, though of course it wiould still be accessible online across the country after it runs on ABC.

The suspension drew quick praise from President Trump and some vocal right-wing “FAFO” Kimmel critics online, but few others.

Instead, 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) condemned the series of the events as a dangerous step towards networks becoming state-run media, with many framing it as a potential “tipping point” moment if Disney didn’t reverse its decision. Some people online pledged to unsubscribe and boycott Disney subsidiaries such as Disney+ and Hulu.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X, “The @GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time.” Former President Barack Obama also weighed in, writing, “After 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’t.”

Ben Stiller wrote on X, “This isn’t right.” Jaime Lee Curtis — who previously shared a post grieving over Kirk — expressed her support for Kimmel. Emmy-winner Jean Smart said she was “horrified” by the move. Podcast pioneer Marc Maron wrote, “If 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’s happening.”

Hollywood unions — including SAG and the WGA — slammed the decision. “The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other — to disturb, even — is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people,” the WGA wrote in a statement. “It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.”

Even a voice within Carr’s own FCC, Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, issued a lengthy statement criticizing the Chair’s bullying. “We cannot allow an inexcusable act of political violence to be twisted into a justification for government censorship and control,” she wrote. “This FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes.”

Of course, Kimmel’s return also comes at a tumultuous moment for late night TV more generally, with Stephen Colbert’s Late Show set to end 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.

Kimmel’s 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.