Disney has announced that Jimmy Kimmel will be back on the air Tuesday.
The company said that it had decided to lift the late night host’s suspension, but defended the original decision to suspend him following comments he made about the assassin of the late Charlie Kirk.
The move runs counter to the narrative that President Trump and his administration had gotten Kimmel “fired.”
The decision came nearly a week after ABC said it was suspending the late night show indefinitely, shortly after the host made comments linking the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
“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,” according to a statement from Disney. “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.”
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr had suggested ABC’s broadcast license was at risk in light of the comments, telling CNBC “we’re not done yet” with changes to the media landscape.
The suspension drew comparisons to CBS’s cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in July and raised questions about the protection of free speech in a Trump-era broadcast environment.
The story is developing, continue to check back as updates become available.
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