What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Charlie Kirk? The comments from his monologue that led ABC to suspend his show for 4 nights

ABC has announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to the air on Tuesday after the network had suspended the late-night talk show indefinitely following criticism of on-air comments Jimmy Kimmel made in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.

“We made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement on Monday. “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.”

On Sept. 17, ABC said that Kimmel’s show would “be pre-empted indefinitely.” The move came after Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, characterized Kimmel’s remarks as “truly sick” in a podcast interview, and said that Disney and ABC should hold Kimmel accountable or face punishment.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

In an interview with CNBC on Sept. 18, Carr said that Kimmel appeared to “mislead” the American public “about a significant fact” in the case.

Kimmel’s suspension prompted a backlash, with critics calling for a boycott of Disney, and hundreds of Hollywood stars signing an open letter condemning ABC’s decision to pull him off the air.

Even though Kimmel will be back on the air, millions of Americans will still be unable to watch. Two major owners of ABC affiliates, Sinclair and Nexstar, have said they will preempt the show until further notice.

What did Kimmel say, exactly?

During his monologue on Sept. 15, Kimmel said that President Trump’s supporters were trying to “score political points” by portraying Kirk’s accused killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, as a left-wing radical, and suggested Robinson was “one of them.”

This is what Kimmel said:

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.

In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.

He then showed a clip of a reporter asking Trump how he was holding up in the wake of Kirk’s death.

“I think very good,” Trump replied. “And by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years, and it’s gonna be a beauty.”

“Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction,” Kimmel said. “Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

What was Trump’s response to Kimmel’s suspension?

In a post on Truth Social the night he was suspended, Trump called it “Great News for America.”

After erroneously stating that the show had been “CANCELLED,” the president congratulated ABC “for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

During a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in England on Sept. 18, Trump suggested that Kimmel was “fired” for “bad ratings” in addition to the remarks he made during the show.

“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,” Trump said when he and the prime minister were asked by a reporter whether free speech is “more under attack in Britain or America” in light of Kimmel’s indefinite hiatus.

“Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person,” the president continued. “He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago. So you know, you can call that free speech or not, he was fired for lack of talent.”

Speaking later to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump made a different argument, suggesting that the FCC should look into the licenses of networks and evening shows that criticize him.

“When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump. That’s all they do,” Trump said. “When you go back, take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”