Jimmy Kimmel’s show drew its biggest audience in a decade on Tuesday, with more than 6.2 million viewers tuning in for his return after a suspension over comments about Charlie Kirk’s killing.
Kimmel’s tearful opening monologue on Tuesday night was also a hit on social media, achieving 26 million views in the hours after clips of the show were shared across all major platforms.
In it, the late-night show host aired video of Donald Trump speaking from Air Force One, saying that Kimmel has “no talent” and “no ratings”.
“Well, I do tonight!” said the host, as the studio audience stood in applause. “You almost have to feel sorry for him.”
Kimmel went on to say that it was “never my intention” to make fun of the death of Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative firebrand who was shot dead while speaking at a Utah university.
Credit: ABC/Jimmy Kimmel Live
ABC said 6.26 million viewers watched the episode. About 1.6 million viewers usually tune in to watch Kimmel, according to last year’s Nielsen ratings.
Kimmel achieved the ratings milestone even though his programme did not reach about one-quarter of American households after local affiliate stations refused to air the episode.
The late-night host had claimed during his monologue on last week’s show that the US president’s Maga movement had “desperately” tried to distance themselves from the alleged assassin’s ideology and accused Republicans of trying to “score political points” from Kirk’s killing.
He also mocked the president’s reaction to the death.
Credit: Jimmy Kimmel Live
The comedian was suspended hours after Brendan Carr, Mr Trump’s head of the federal communications commission (FCC), suggested ABC could lose its broadcasting licence.
The decision to pull the show after 22 years on air raised questions about the Trump administration’s approach to free speech.
Kimmel, his voice breaking, told his audience on Tuesday night that he understood that his joke may have “felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both”.
“For those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset,” he said.
“If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way.”
Actor Robert De Niro appeared in a skit with Kimmel – Disney
Kimmel also hit out at Mr Trump, whom he accused of an illegal and “authoritarian” attempt to pull him off the air.
“Our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television,” he said.
Disney had announced on Monday that it would reinstate Kimmel’s show after having “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy” in the days after his suspension.
The U-turn came after 400 celebrities signed a letter protesting the decision to axe Kimmel’s show, with some artists threatening to boycott Disney “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation”.
Disney was also under pressure from Kimmel’s fans, some of whom were cancelling subscriptions to the company’s streaming services Disney+ and Hulu.
Kimmel joked about that in his monologue, claiming that the company had asked him to read some remarks on the air.
“To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your smart TV or TV-connected device,” he read.
Mr Trump lashed out at Kimmel and “ABC Fake News” in a Truth Social post before Kimmel’s show was broadcast on Tuesday night, claiming that Kimmel was putting the network “in jeopardy by playing 99 per cent positive Democrat GARBAGE”.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
