YouTube: Jimmy Kimmel LiveJimmy Kimmel is coming back to late-night TV less than a week after ABC gave him the boot over comments he made regarding podcaster Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Charlie Kirk, a podcaster and political pundit, was shot in the neck and killed during a leg of his ‘American Comeback Tour’ at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
The shooter, identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, has been arrested and is facing the death penalty pending a conviction.
Kimmel discussed the incident five days later during a Monday-night episode of his talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, remarking, “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.”
FCC chairman Brendan Carr took issue with part of the comment that appeared to link Robinson to being MAGA supporter.
The host’s remarks went viral and prompted ABC to suspend the show from their network “indefinitely,” sparking outrage from viewers across the US, who trashed their subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu out of protest.
Disney backtracks decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live from ABC
ABC has backtracked on this decision just a week later. As told in a September 22 statement to Deadline, the company revealed it held “thoughtful” discussions with Kimmel and its parent company, Disney.
“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,” an ABC spokesperson told the outlet.
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“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last [few] days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to ABC on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. Thus far, the host has not yet publicly spoken about his show’s short-lived cancellation, which sparked fears among American citizens regarding free speech.
The boycott against Disney and Hulu went viral, with numerous celebrities like Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Stephen Colbert and many more speaking out against Disney’s decision to pull the program.