NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late-night show<\/a> on Tuesday after ABC pulled the host off the air indefinitely in the wake of criticism over his comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month.<\/p>\n Kimmel was emotional during his opening monologue,<\/a> nearly breaking down at least twice when he told his audience \u201cit was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man\u201d and praising Erika Kirk for her forgiveness of her husband’s killer.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is an example we should follow,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was … A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. And I hope it touches many.<\/p>\n Kimmel\u2019s comments that led to his suspension did not extensively focus on Kirk, who was a close ally of President Donald Trump<\/a>, but took aim at Trump and what Kimmel called his \u201cMAGA Gang\u201d of supporters for their response to the Sept. 10 killing.<\/p>\n Two of ABC’s largest affiliate owners, Nexstar and Sinclair<\/a>, did not carry Kimmel’s return on their stations, which represent about 25% of all affiliates. They had stopped airing \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!” in reaction to Kimmel’s comments related to Kirk.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know:<\/p>\n Initially, ABC did not explain why on Wednesday it indefinitely suspended \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!,” which the network has aired since 2003. But Nexstar and Sinclair cited \u201cproblematic comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, The Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, offered more of an explanation: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments \u201ctruly sick\u201d and had warned that the network and its local affiliates could face repercussions if Kimmel was not punished. On Monday, Carr denied that he threatened to revoke ABC\u2019s local station licenses over Kimmel\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n In putting Kimmel back on air, The Walt Disney Co. said \u201cwe have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimmel called Kirk’s death a \u201csenseless murder\u201d a day after the fatal Utah shooting, and he condemned those who appeared to celebrate it \u2014 as well as Trump for trying to cast blame on the \u201cradical left.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n He also talked about the aftermath during his show the following week, targeting the response from both Trump and the president’s supporters, whom he accused of \u201cworking very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.\u201d<\/p>\n The comic focused particularly on the man accused of the killing, Tyler Robinson.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe MAGA Gang (is) 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,\u201d Kimmel said in his monologue last Monday. \u201cIn between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimmel said Trump\u2019s response \u201cis not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?\u201d He also said that FBI chief Kash Patel has handled the investigation into the killing \u201clike a kid who didn\u2019t read the book, BSing his way through an oral report.\u201d<\/p>\n On Sept. 16, Kimmel mocked Vice President JD Vance\u2019s performance as guest host for Kirk\u2019s podcast.<\/p>\n Kimmel\u2019s suspension came alongside wider efforts by Trump and other conservatives to police speech after Kirk\u2019s killing<\/a>. It also marks the Trump administration\u2019s latest effort to influence the U.S. media landscape<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a post on his Truth Social platform after Kimmel’s suspension, Trump applauded ABC for \u201cfinally having the courage to do what had to be done\u201d and claimed that Kimmel \u201chas ZERO talent\u201d \u2014 focusing on what he said were bad ratings, while lambasting other names in late-night TV.<\/p>\n Shortly before Kimmel’s show aired Tuesday, Trump posted his first reaction to the host’s return on Truth Social: \u201cI can\u2019t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back … Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who\u2019s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimmel’s suspension drew both condemnation and praise<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former President Barack Obama wrote in a social media post Thursday<\/a> that the current administration had reached a \u201cnew and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn\u2019t like\u201d \u2014 and that media companies needed to stand up to the \u201cgovernment coercion\u201d rather than capitulate to it.<\/p>\n Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News and NBC personality, maintained that Kimmel’s suggestion that Kirk’s killer may have been a Trump supporter was a \u201cvile, disgusting lie.\u201d<\/p>\n Others expressed shock and concern over what the move meant for free speech, including actor Jean Smart. \u201cWhat Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech. People seem to only want to protect free speech when it suits THEIR agenda,\u201d Smart wrote on social media, noting that she was still \u201csickened\u201d by Kirk’s death.<\/p>\n Congressional Democrats later unveiled a bill<\/a> aimed at bolstering free speech protections against government officials. While it\u2019s unlikely to gain traction in a Republican-controlled Congress, the move echoed sharp criticism over Kimmel\u2019s suspension. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also called for Carr\u2019s firing<\/a>.<\/p>\n AP Media Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.voiceofalexandria.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late-night show on Tuesday after ABC pulled the host off the air indefinitely in the wake of criticism over his comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month. Kimmel was emotional during his opening monologue, nearly breaking down at least twice when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2042352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[375246,21796,375244,375242,375245,21741,21791,375243,378138,22048,30188],"class_list":["post-2045737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-assassination-of-charlie-kirk","tag-business","tag-censorship","tag-civil-rights","tag-conservatism","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-human-rights","tag-jimmy-kimmel-show-suspended-charlie-kirk","tag-politics","tag-u-s-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Why-was-Jimmy-Kimmels-late-night-show-suspended-and-then-reinstated.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2042352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Kimmel’s show was first suspended, then reinstated<\/h2>\n
Kimmel’s comments after Kirk\u2019s death<\/h2>\n
Trump’s response to the suspension<\/h2>\n
How others responded to Kimmel’s suspension<\/h2>\n