‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ was suspended after remarks Kimmel made regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show is returning to the air this week, The Walt Disney Co. said on Sept. 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,” the company said in a statement to news outlets. “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.”
A Disney spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Disney is the parent company of ABC, which said on Sept. 17 it would stop airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely in the wake of remarks Kimmel made about supporters of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda after the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
“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,” Kimmel said during a recent show.
Kimmel was referencing Tyler Robinson, who was arrested in connection with the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk, a conservative influencer who was close to the president. Relatives say Robinson had been shifting to the left politically, becoming focused on supporting gay and transgender people, according to authorities. He had also begun dating his roommate, a male who was transitioning to female.
Robinson, 22, allegedly told his father that Kirk was spreading hate. According to authorities, in messages he exchanged with his roommate, Robinson admitted to the shooting. Asked why he did it, he wrote: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Robinson did not have a lawyer in his first court hearing. The presiding judge said that he would appoint a lawyer to represent the defendant.
Kirk, 31, was the executive director of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization. He was debating college students at a university in Orem, Utah, when he was fatally shot.
Kimmel has hosted a late-night show since 2003.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said after Kimmel’s show was suspended that Kimmel’s comments were “not a joke” and appeared to mislead Americans about a fact related to the shooting.
Broadcast networks have a license that requires them to operate in the public interest, Carr has said.
At least two companies that own local television stations had said they would not broadcast Kimmel’s show, at least for a period of time, in light of his comments.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns dozens of ABC affiliates, said it would not air the show until it is “confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.”
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