Jimmy Kimmel made his comeback as the host of his late-night show on Tuesday following a weeklong suspension due to comments he made concerning the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Stepping onto the stage of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to applause from the studio audience, Kimmel began his monologue by addressing his suspension, the support he’s received, and the remarks that led ABC and the Walt Disney Company to temporarily remove his show.
“I’ve been receiving a lot of advice on what I should say and do tonight,” Kimmel remarked. “Honestly, I don’t believe anything I say will make much of a difference. If you like me, you do, and if you don’t, you don’t. I have no false hopes of changing anyone’s opinions.
“However, there’s something I want to clarify because it’s significant to me as a person, and that’s ensuring you know it was never my aim to make light of the murder of a young man,” he continued, his voice showing emotion.
“On the day he was killed, I shared a message on Instagram offering love to his family and calling for compassion. I meant that then and I mean it now. It was not my intention to single out any particular group for the actions of, evidently, a very disturbed individual. That was quite the opposite of what I intended to convey,” he added.
“But I see that to some, my message seemed poorly timed or unclear, or possibly both. For those who believe I pointed fingers, I understand why you’re upset. If our roles were reversed, I might feel similarly,” he concluded.
He later called Kirk’s shooter “a sick person who believed violence was a solution.”
“And it isn’t, ever.”
Kimmel also took jabs at President Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr during the monologue, criticizing Carr for putting pressure on companies to pull Kimmel’s show. But he thanked “the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,” listing them as “Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz.” (Cruz, who admitted that he celebrated Kimmel’s suspension, said he ultimately believed the government should not be “in the business” of threatening to “ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what [they] like.”)
Kimmel said during the monologue that he was “not happy” with ABC’s decision to remove him from the air, but thanked them for bringing him back on Tuesday “even though they didn’t have to.”
“This is a giant company. We have short attention spans, and I am a tiny part of the Disney Corporation. They welcomed me back on the air and I thank them for that. But unfortunately, and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk,” he said.
Kimmel also teared up again discussing Erika Kirk’s speech after her husband’s death.
“There was a moment over the weekend, a very beautiful moment. I don’t know if you saw this. On Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is an example we should follow.
“If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was. That’s, that’s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. And I hope it touches many. And if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that.”
ABC had suspended Kimmel’s show last Wednesday, after Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Media Group said they would be preempting his show over comments he made after Kirk’s death.
Most reports pointed to comments Kimmel made on Monday, Sept. 15, in which he said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.”
The next night, Kimmel said during his monologue that “Many in ‘MAGA land’ are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” citing remarks made by Vice President JD Vance.
The Walt Disney Company announced Monday, Sept. 22, that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return the following day. Nexstar and Sinclair, meanwhile, continued to preempt the show in their ABC markets.
