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Jimmy Kimmel's show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, will return to the airwaves Tuesday (September 23) night after it was suspended "indefinitely" last week, the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, announced in a statement obtained by the New York Times on Monday (September 22).
“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” ABC said. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement said. “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.”
Kimmel was suspended after making comments about the suspect involved in conservative political activist Charlie Kirk's assassination last week.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said via the New York Post.
Nextstar Media Group, which serves as a primary affiliate to ABC, confirmed its plans to "preempt" Jimmy Kimmel Live! following the hosts' remarks. President Donald Trump, a longtime target of Kimmel's critical humor, celebrated the decision and called for similar action to be taken against NBC's Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show and Seth Meyers of Late Night.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Kimmel's comments about the suspect in Kirk's assassination reportedly threatened to derail Nexstar's $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, telecom insiders told the New York Post's On The Money last Thursday (September 18). The deal, which had already faced backlash for combining two of the United States' largest local television stations, is pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission and its conservative chairman, Brendan Carr, over possible antitrust issues.
The telecom insiders claimed Kimmel's comments reportedly factored negatively into the pending approval, which led to Nexstar's decision to pull his show, On The Money reports. Kimmel was spotted outside El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Los Angeles shortly after being notified of his ousting as seen in video footage shared by NBC 4 Los Angeles.