Video above: ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live! audience member recounts being turned away shortly after the show was indefinitely preempted.
(NEXSTAR) — Less than a week after indefinitely preempting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over comments host Jimmy Kimmel made following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Walt Disney Company says the show will return this week.
In a statement shared with NewsNation on Monday, the company said the decision to preempt the late-night show was “made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
“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,” the statement read.
Protestors outside “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following ABC’s indefinite suspension of the program at Hollywood Blvd on September 18, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show last week after Kimmel made multiple comments following the death of Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.
The network’s decision came after Nexstar Media, the parent company of this news station, announced its ABC affiliates would pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely over his comments.
Sinclair Broadcasting Group followed suit, also calling on Kimmel to apologize and make a “meaningful personal donation” to the activist’s political organization, Turning Point USA. Sinclair
On Monday, Sinclair said on X that they plan to replace the returning Jimmy Kimmel Live! with news programming, saying that “discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
Last week, President Trump congratulated ABC “for finally having the courage to do what had to be done” in a post to Truth Social. He went on to urge NBC to fire late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, calling them “two total losers.” As of Monday afternoon, the president had not publicly reacted to the news of Kimmel’s reinstatement.
Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, who had called Kimmel’s monologue material “some of the sickest conduct possible,” The Hill reports, also applauded the suspension last week.
On Monday, Carr denied he threatened to revoke ABC’s local station licenses because of Kimmel’s remarks.
“Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation he’s in because of his ratings. Not because of anything that’s happened at the federal government level,” Carr said at the Concordia Annual Summit.
Kimmel, who has been hosting the show since 2003, is in the final year of a contract that ends May 2026.
Word of the reinstatement came as hundreds of Hollywood and Broadway stars — including Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep — urged Americans to “fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights” in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.
More than 430 movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”
Also Monday, ABC’s “The View” weighed in on the controversy after not raising it for two episodes after Kimmel was suspended. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg opened the show saying: “No one silences us” and she and her fellow hosts condemned Disney’s decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
