ABC announced on Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to the air on Tuesday night.
A spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement: “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. It is a decision we 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.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was abruptly taken off the air last week, after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC affiliate licenses over Kimmel’s comments about the MAGA movement’s response to conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Kirk, 31, is the founder of Turning Point USA, and was killed on Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University.
Earlier on Monday, more than 400 entertainers came forward in support of Kimmel with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) releasing an open letter defending Kimmel’s right to free expression. The statement, signed by hundreds of well-known actors and performers, voiced “solidarity” with both Kimmel and the ACLU’s broader defense of the First Amendment.
The letter began: “We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech. Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country. Last week, Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation. In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board. This runs counter to the values our nation was built upon, and our Constitution guarantees.”
The letter went on to recognize others who “are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression,” such as “teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students and so many more. Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power – because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us … This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation. We encourage all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights.”
The list of signatories includes some of Hollywood’s most recognizable figures: Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, and Tom Hanks, as well as Disney-connected stars such as Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short, and Meryl Streep. Others lending their names include Jason Bateman, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Rodrigo, Ben Stiller, Jean Smart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalie Portman, Maya Rudolph, Mark Ruffalo, and Kerry Washington.
Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar Media’s broadcast division, called Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”. Nexstar, the country’s largest local broadcast and digital media group, owns more than 200 TV stations across 116 markets. Alford argued that Kimmel’s commentary did not represent the views of the diverse communities Nexstar serves. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time,” he said. “We have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
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