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LOS ANGELES \u2014 Returning to the air to thunderous cheers and applause in his first episode since ABC suspended his late-night show,<\/a> Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday took direct aim at President Donald Trump while also trying to smooth tensions following his joke about the Republican reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n “You understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, his voice breaking, during his opening monologue. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”<\/p>\n Disney-owned ABC took “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air last Wednesday after conservative fury over comments Kimmel made during a show monologue and after public criticism from the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n A furious backlash to ABC’s decision followed<\/a>, with prominent voices in and outside the entertainment industry saying it amounted to an attack on free speech by the administration.<\/p>\n Kimmel said Tuesday that the Trump administration “tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show, in the cities that you live in, to take my show off the air.\u201d<\/p>\n “That\u2019s not legal. That\u2019s not American, that is un-American, and it\u2019s so dangerous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The events that led to Kimmel’s suspension began Sept. 15, five days after a gunman fatally shot Kirk, a popular activist on the right<\/a>, as Kirk was at a public event at Utah Valley University in Orem.<\/p>\n Kimmel’s comments came at a time when investigators had not released details about the suspect\u2019s potential motives.<\/p>\n