Jimmy Kimmel will return to ABC network on Tuesday, Disney says
The TV host’s talk show was suspended six days ago after he made remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk
Disney said Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to its ABC network line-up on Tuesday, six days after it suspended the talk-show host following threats by the Federal Communications Commission chairman over comments the host had made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
In announcing the decision to bring Kimmel back to the airwaves, ABC’s parent company said it had suspended production of the show “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country”.
The Disney statement went on to say the company felt some of Kimmel’s comments in question “were ill-timed and thus insensitive”.
However, after further discussions with the ABC late-night host, “we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday”, Disney said.
Earlier on Monday, 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 Kimmel’s suspension.
More than 430 film, television and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation”.