Disney-owned ABC on Monday said that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return Tuesday, ending a brief suspension that set off conversations and commentary about free speech, media and government.
“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,” ABC-owner Disney said in a statement provided to multiple media 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.”
ABC took Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air “indefinitely” last week, following comments he made on his Monday evening broadcast about the person accused of murdering political activist Charlie Kirk, which some conservatives contended mischaracterized the political beliefs of the alleged shooter. But the timing of the suspension fueled debates over free speech and government pressure, as ABC’s decision came just shortly after Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr spoke to conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, suggesting the regulator could step in to take action if ABC didn’t do something about Kimmel itself.
Speaking on the podcast, Carr said the FCC would “have remedies that we can look at.” Adding, “I mean we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
As a regulator the FCC has authority over local TV station broadcast licenses. Later in the week U.S. President Donald Trump said federal regulators should consider revoking licenses over late-night hosts that speak negatively about him.
Some TV station groups – namely Nexstar - which owns ABC local affiliates last week said it would “preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! “for the foreseeable future,” condemning the host’s comments and as “offensive and insensitive.”
“Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and 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,” stated Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, last week.
That move came as Nexstar is also hoping for a relaxing of FCC rules that limit TV station ownership and will need government approval of its proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of station group Tegna.
Station owner Sinclair, which owns 38 ABC affiliates, also said last week that it was pulling Kimmel’s show off its airwaves.
Meanwhile, in the days after the late-night show suspension, others condemned Disney and ABC for its move, with protests happening last week outside of Disney headquarters in Burbank, ABC’s studios in New York and a Hollywood studio that hosts Kimmel’s show.
As the New York Times reported, Hollywood unions organized some protests, with at least five unions, collectively representing more than 400,000 workers, publicly condemning ABC in the days after.
Pressure continued to mount Monday when 400 artists and the ACLU signed a letter in support of free speech and “condemning the government’s censorship of Jimmy Kimmel.”
It’s not the first time that the Trump administration has been at odds with media companies, which sometimes have also simultaneously been seeking regulatory sign-off on business deals.
Paramount’s recent $8 billion merger with Skydance was one recent situation that had politics and media intertwined. Government approval for the deal came after commitments by Skydance to the FCC about changes to the CBS News division and Paramount post-merger and only after its CBS subsidiary settled a lawsuit brought on by Trump over alleged editing of a 60 Minutes interview, with the media company agreeing to pay $16 million to the future presidential library.
Amid the Kimmel situation, some democratic lawmakers quickly jumped, calling on the FCC Inspector General to launch an investigation into Carr, who they claim engaged in an “illegal and unconstitutional censorship campaign, including punishing broadcasters for carrying Jimmy Kimmel’s show and abusing his authority as related to the merger between Paramount and Skydance.”
Still, when it comes to Kimmel and late-night, the host’s contract with ABC expires in May, and the broader linear late-night future remains uncertain as he and similar shows operate in an environment that in general continues to see traditional broadcast viewership declines.