Jimmy Kimmel has held back tears in his TV return after being pulled off air for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Last week the American talk show’s host long-running programme Jimmy Kimmel Live was pulled ‘indefinitely’ by broadcaster ABC.
On Monday’s episode of the show Kimmel, 57, had said the following about Kirk’s alleged killer: ‘We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.’
The 31-year-old controversial media personality was killed in a ‘political assassination’ during a Q&A at Utah Valley University on September 10.
After massive backlash over the decision to suspend Kimmel’s show – which saw more than 400 Hollywood stars sign an open letter slamming the move – ABC announced his show would be back on Tuesday.
Overnight his show returned to air, with the host starting by addressing his six-day suspension.
Opening the programme with clips from different news outlets reporting on his suspension, Kimmel began by thanking fellow talk show hosts like Stephen Colbert and John Oliver who had voiced their support for him over the past week.
He went on to address the comments that had seen him pulled off air, his voice breaking and tears forming as he said: ‘It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.’
‘I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,’ he declared.
‘I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it. And I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions. It was a deeply disturbed individual.
‘That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but to some, that felt ill-timed or unclear or maybe both, and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset.
‘If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I would have felt the same way. I have many friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to, even though we don’t agree on politics at all. I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone; this was a sick person who believed violence was a solution, and it isn’t.’
He also praised Kirk’s widow Erika, who has said she’s forgiven her husband’s killer. ‘That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was, that’s it, a selfless act of grace forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. If there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that.’
He then explained the importance of free speech.
‘It’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen [Colbert] off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal, that’s not American. That is un-American. And it’s so dangerous,’ he said.
The talk show host also didn’t miss his chance to fire back at US President Donald Trump, who last week said Kimmel had ‘no talent and anybody could replace him’.
‘You almost have to feel sorry for him. He tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this now,’ he quipped.
‘Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,’ he went on.
‘He was somehow able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS. Then he turned his sights on me. And now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows, who don’t make millions of dollars. And I hope that if that happens, or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be ten times as loud as you were this week.’
When announcing Kimmel’s return, ABC said in a statement that his comments had been ‘ill-timed and thus insensitive’, and the show had been suspended to ‘avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country’.
‘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.’
The show then continued with guests Glen Powell and Sarah McLachlan.
Around an hour before Kimmel’s return, Trump lashed out and slammed ABC for reinstating his show.
‘I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
‘The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his “talent” was never there.’
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