Jimmy Kimmel got a large standing ovation with chants of “Jimmy, Jimmy” from the studio audience.
In a very emotional monologue, Kimmel kicked off with a reference to Jack Paar when he quit and returned to The Tonight Show in 1960. “As I was saying before I was interrupted…,” he joked.
Kimmel thanked his fans as well as those who “don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs”. He added that, “Our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television.”
He teared up when referencing Charlie Kirk. “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” he said.
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“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram of the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it. I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand that to some that felt either 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’d 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,” he said.
He also praised Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika. He referenced the fact that she forgave the killer over the weekend. “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 added.
Kimmel added that Jimmy Kimmel Live! is not important but what is important is “that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this”.
“I’ve had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East, who told me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power, and worse than being thrown in prison, they know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country, and that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen 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,” he added.
Kimmel didn’t stop making Trump jokes, either. He referenced the fact that President Trump said that JKL! didn’t get good ratings. “I do tonight,” he joked. “He did 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.”
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host joked that Disney asked him to read a message on the show, asking people to resubscribe to Hulu and Disney+. “For almost 23 years, I’ve done almost 4,000 shows on ABC, and over that time, the people who run this network have allowed me to evolve and to stretch the boundaries of what was once traditional for a late-night talk show, even when it made them uncomfortable, which I do a lot every night, they’ve defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects that I think are important by allowing me to use their platform, and I am very grateful for that.”
But he admitted that he was “not happy when they pulled me off the air”.
“I did not agree with that decision, and I told them that, and we had many conversations. I shared my point of view, they shared theirs. We talked it through. At the end, even though they didn’t have to, they really didn’t have to, this is a giant company, we have short attention spans, and I am a tiny part of the Disney Corporation. They welcomed me back on the air, and I thank them for that.”
Kimmel said this puts them at risk from President Trump. “Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,” he said.
Elsewhere, he thanked both his fellow late-night hosts including Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon as well as former late-night hosts such as Conan O’Brien, Chelsea Handler, Wanda Sykes, Arsenio Hall and Jay Leno and his “boyhood idols” Howard Stern and David Letterman.
He also thanked Ben Shapiro, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, people who he doesn’t agree with, but supports his right to say it.
“Even though I don’t agree with many of those people on most subjects, some of the things they say even make me want to throw up. It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration, and they did, and they deserve credit for that,” he said.
Kimmel’s first monologue was followed by a bit by Robert De Niro pretending to be the new head of the FCC, before he went back to telling more jokes about Trump and an interview with Glen Powell.
Kimmel stepped on to the stage of the El Capital Theater just after 6pm and the taping lasted just over an hour. Crowd members told Deadline that the atmosphere inside the theater was “electric” and Kimmel received more standing ovations during his monologue than the crew would have liked.
An hour before the show went out, Trump doubled down on his attacks on ABC and Kimmel, calling them a “true bunch of losers” and that he would be “going to test ABC out on this”.
Kimmel’s monologue come 24 hours about ABC revealed that it was bringing the show back after “thoughtful conversations” between the comedian and Disney.
Disney admitted that it made the decision to indefinitely preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country”. The company, in its statement said that it felt the comments were “ill-timed and thus insensitive”.
Kimmel, on his show a week ago Monday, said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
FCC chairman Brendan Carr subsequently threatened ABC to “find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead” and said that the comedian’s comments were “some of the sickest conduct possible.”
Carr later walked back his comments, claiming that he denied he was making a threat to pull licenses of ABC stations.
After Carr’s initial comments, local station group Nexstar revealed that it would “preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future” as it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk.” It soon was followed by similar comments from rival station group Sinclair.
Moments later, Disney made its own decision to pause the show.
This was followed by intensive discussions with the late-night host as the controversy continued to blow up over the weekend. Tom Hanks, who played Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks, was one of more than 400 stars, alongside the likes of Meryl Streep, Ben Affleck, Ben Stiller and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who signed an ACLU letter calling out “government threats to our freedom of speech”.
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner also got involved, asking “where has all the leadership gone?”, comments that are thought to have rankled current Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Kimmel also received support from his late-night peers and fellow Strike Force 5 podcasts including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers but it was John Oliver who struck an even bigger blow, calling out Iger himself.
“History is also going to remember the cowards who definitely knew better but still let things happen, whether it was for money, convenience, or just comfort,” Oliver said on HBO’s Last Week Tonight.
Even some right-wing politicians such as Ted Cruz — who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the body that has oversight over the FCC — warned it was dangerous for government to silence free speech as Democrats, when they next enter the White House, could use the precedent to silence conservatives.
Nexstar and Sinclair have continued to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live!, meaning that the show is not available to watch live in around a quarter of the country.