NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television Tuesday after a nearly weeklong suspension<\/a> that triggered a national discussion about freedom of speech and President Donald Trump’s ability to police the words of journalists, commentators and even comics<\/a>.<\/p>\n An audience filed in to watch Kimmel’s return in a Hollywood taping. There were no immediate reports on what Kimmel said.<\/p>\n ABC, which suspended Kimmel\u2019s show last Wednesday following criticism of his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk,<\/a> announced Monday that \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d would return after the network had \u201cthoughtful conversations\u201d with the host.<\/p>\n His viewership was more limited than usual. Two companies that owned ABC affiliates said they would not put Kimmel’s show on, leaving audiences in such cities as St. Louis, Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia to watch something else. The Sinclair and Nexstar corporations collectively control about a quarter of ABC affiliates.<\/p>\n \u201cOur long national late nightmare is over,\u201d Stephen Colbert joked on his CBS show in response to Kimmel’s reinstatement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kimmel, who has been publicly silent since his suspension, posted Tuesday on his Instagram account a picture of himself with the late television producer and free speech advocate Norman Lear. \u201cMissing this guy today,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n ABC suspended Kimmel \u201cindefinitely\u201d after comments he made in a monologue last week. Kimmel, who has been a relentless Trump critic in his comedy, suggested that many Trump supporters were trying to capitalize on Kirk\u2019s death and were \u201cdesperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr last week said it appeared that Kimmel was trying to \u201cdirectly mislead the American public\u201d with his remarks about Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man charged with Kirk’s killing, and his motives. Those motives remain unclear<\/a>. Authorities say Robinson grew up in a conservative family, but his mother told investigators his son had turned left politically in the last year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr said before ABC announced the suspension. \u201cThese companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Those remarks set a backlash in motion, with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz saying that Carr<\/a> acted like \u201ca mafioso.\u201d Hundreds of entertainment luminaries, including Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Aniston, signed a letter circulated by the American Civil Liberties Union that called ABC’s move \u201ca dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Podcaster Joe Rogan weighed in Tuesday on Kimmel’s side. \u201cI definitely don’t think that the government should be involved \u2014 ever \u2014 in dictating what a comedian can or can’t say in a monologue,\u201d Rogan said. \u201cYou are crazy for supporting this because this will be used on you.\u201d<\/p>\n Some consumers punished ABC parent Disney<\/a> by canceling subscriptions to its streaming services.<\/p>\n Trump had hailed Kimmel’s suspension and criticized his return, writing on his Truth Social platform: \u201cI can\u2019t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back … Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.”<\/p>\n Trump’s administration has used threats, lawsuits and federal government pressure to try to exert more control over the media industry. Trump sued ABC<\/a> and CBS<\/a> over news coverage, which the companies settled. Trump has also filed defamation lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and The New York Times<\/a>, and successfully urged Congress to strip federal funding from NPR and PBS<\/a>.<\/p>\n He will have at least one friendly guest. After pulling out of her planned performance at the premiere of Hulu’s Lilith Fair documentary in protest over Kimmel’s suspension, singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan will appear<\/a> on Kimmel’s show as the musical guest. McLachlan had been booked on the show prior to the preemption, a representative told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n The other guest, according to an ABC lineup released Tuesday afternoon, will be actor Glen Powell, who was listed as a guest for this week on the \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d ticket site even before Kimmel’s suspension. Like McLachlan, he’s promoting a Hulu release, \u201cChad Powers,\u201d as is former NFL star Peyton Manning, a Thursday guest.<\/p>\n Disney and ABC executives reportedly negotiated Kimmel’s return for several days before announcing the resolution. The ABC statement said the suspension happened because some of Kimmel’s comments were \u201cill-timed and thus insensitive,\u201d but it did not call them misleading.<\/p>\n Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Kirk and now headed by his widow, posted on X that \u201cDisney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it\u2019s their mistake to make.\u201d<\/p>\nFCC chair accuses host of misleading the public<\/h2>\n
Show lineup will include at least one friendly guest<\/h2>\n