Jimmy Kimmel, sombre but defiant, defends free speech in return to ABC

LOS ANGELES – Jimmy Kimmel broke his silence on Sept 23 in an emotional return to ABC’s airwaves, by turns defiant, joking and sombre as he addressed the controversy that

temporarily sidelined

his late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! and set off a national debate over free speech.

His voice breaking at times, Kimmel said he understood why his comments last week about the suspected shooter of

right-wing activist Charlie Kirk

seemed “ill-timed, or unclear, or maybe both”.

The American host and comedian added: “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”

But Kimmel, 57, also had harsh words for President Donald Trump and the government regulator who suggested that the Trump administration would punish ABC because of his remarks, saying that “a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American”.

“This show is not important,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue. “What’s important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”

Executives at Disney, ABC’s parent company, pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air last week, shortly after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Mr Brendan Carr, suggested that his agency could take action against the network.

Kimmel said he disagreed with Disney’s decision to pull his show. But he also credited the company, where he has worked for 22 years, for defending his right to poke fun at the powerful.

“Unfortunately, and I think unjustly, this puts them at risk,” he said. “The president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke.”

During his monologue, which was frequently interrupted by a cheering crowd, Kimmel thanked several Republican officials, including Senators Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, who expressed misgivings about the FCC pressuring ABC.

“I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,” he said.

Tearing up, he also praised Ms Erika Kirk, Mr Kirk’s widow, who at a public memorial on Sept 21 said she forgave the person accused of murdering her husband.

“It touched me deeply,” Kimmel said, his voice hoarse. “If there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that, and not this.”

Trump still at it

Before his show aired, Mr Trump wrote that he “can’t believe” ABC gave Kimmel back his show, and hinted at further action.

“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny and who puts the network in jeopardy by playing 99 per cent positive Democrat garbage,” he wrote on Sept 23 on Truth Social.

“He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major illegal campaign contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this,” he added, referring to the Democratic National Committee.

While Walt Disney announced on Sept 22 that it was ready to restore Kimmel to the airwaves, station owners Nexstar Media and Sinclair have said they will continue to pre-empt Kimmel’s time slot with other programming on their network affiliate stations, which reach about 23 per cent of US households.

Still, Disney’s decision to cut short Kimmel’s exile from late-night television marks a high-profile act of corporate defiance in the face of

an escalating crackdown by Mr Trump

on his perceived media critics through litigation and regulatory threats.

The late-night entertainer and four-time Oscars host has kept a low profile since he was pulled from the air on Sept 17.

But he surfaced on the social media platform Bluesky hours before his return, posting a picture of him with the late television producer and progressive activist Norman Lear, with a message that said simply: “Missing this guy today.”

Kimmel, whose show has frequently lampooned Mr Trump, sparked outrage from conservatives for saying that the President’s supporters were desperate to characterise Mr Kirk’s alleged shooter “as anything other than one of them” and for trying to “score political points” from his murder.

The comments came in the opening monologue of Kimmel’s broadcast on Sept 15, five days after Mr Kirk, an influential Trump ally, author and radio-podcast host, was shot dead while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem.

Mr Trump, who has repeatedly pressured broadcasters and other media to squelch content that he has found objectionable, had cheered the news of Kimmel’s suspension after it was announced and referred to it erroneously as an outright cancellation of the show.

In comments to reporters last week aboard Air Force One, he raised the prospect of revoking FCC licences as punishment for what he regarded as unfair treatment of him by broadcasters, saying: “It will be up to Brendan Carr.”

Rogan weighs in

Mr Carr’s attack on Kimmel marked his latest effort to rein in media companies for perceived bias against the Trump administration and Republicans, stoking fears among free speech advocates who saw the FCC chairman wielding the agency’s regulatory authority as a cudgel and drawing criticism from many Democrats and some Republicans.

Influential podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Mr Trump for the presidency, weighed in on the debate on Sept 23, taking issue with the government’s attempt to curb speech.

“I definitely don’t think that the government should be involved ever in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue,” said Mr Rogan in a podcast.

On her way into the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood to watch the taping on Sept 23 with two friends visiting from Germany, Ms Elias Fisher, 26, said she felt an extra element of anticipation given the furore surrounding the show.

“I’m just excited to see what’s going to happen, to be honest,” Ms Fisher told Reuters. “I want to see... his reaction and just what the opening monologue is going to be and how the whole show evolves.”

Kimmel had planned to address the widening controversy on his show, but Disney executives feared the monologue would have further inflamed the situation – and suspended the show.

In announcing the show’s return, Disney said it found Kimmel’s comments about Mr Kirk the week before “were ill-timed and thus insensitive”, but the entertainment giant stopped short of an outright apology. NYTMES, REUTERS