Jimmy Kimmel’s highly anticipated return to late-night television came on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and it provided no shortage of strong reactions. While the longtime host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! received a loud ovation from the start, some took to social media to push back on the return to air, including President Trump. Kimmel went on to address several noteworthy topics, including a reference to comments surrounding the death of Charlie Kirk.
Following his week-long suspension, Kimmel teared up while speaking about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as The Associated Press highlighted.
“I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, his voice breaking. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
Jimmy Kimmel Takes Light-Hearted Jab at Disney During Return
Kimmel went on to host the show as (mostly) normal, or as normal as possible with the controversy that surrounded his suspension. However, one moment involved a bit of a light-hearted jab at Disney, in which he recited a statement he sarcastically said Disney “asked him” to read.
“A lot of people have been asking me if there are conditions to my return to the air, and there is one,” Kimmel said. “Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and I’ve agreed to do it. Here we go.”
“To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your Smart TV or TV-connected device,” Kimmel joked.
Jimmy Kimmel shares a statement he says Disney asked him to read 😂 pic.twitter.com/IG55PMo97c
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) September 24, 2025
The joke from Kimmel comes after several high-profile celebrities took to social media following his suspension, calling for people to cancel their Disney+ and Hulu accounts. Among the many noteworthy names to do so was Tatiana Maslany, star of Marvel’s She-Hulk, which aired on Disney+, as Deadline detailed.
“cancel your @disneyplus @hulu @espn subscriptions!” Maslany wrote.
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