Jimmy Kimmel returns to air, addresses Kirk comments in emotional monologue

Jimmy Kimmel made his return to late night television on Tuesday, his audience loudly cheering and chanting his name. Calling recent events “overwhelming,” Kimmel stated that “everyone [he] had ever met has reached out ten or 11 times,” giving shout outs to fellow talk show hosts such as John Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert.

ABC pulled Kimmel off air last Wednesday, seemingly bowing to pressure from the Trump administration. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC’s broadcasting licence mere hours before the announcement, having taken objection to Kimmel’s comments about Republicans’ reactions to right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk’s death. While President Donald Trump and his followers reacted to Kimmel’s suspension with glee, many others criticised the decision due to concerns about free speech.

In his return monologue, Kimmel thanked the audience for supporting him and taking action to protest his suspension, as well as those who don’t support him or his beliefs but still spoke up for his right to express them. Kimmel even listed several right-wing politicians and commentators, such as Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and Ted Cruz — frequent targets for his jokes in the past.

“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 it and thanks,” said Kimmel.

Kimmel then addressed the comments he made about Kirk’s death that led to his suspension.

“I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human,” Kimmel said during his return monologue, getting audibly choked up as he spoke. “And that is [that] you understand that 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. 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 and I still do. 

“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what 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 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 it, ever.”

Kimmel subsequently went on to discuss the free speech concerns that arose after ABC pulled him off air, stating that U.S. citizens’ freedom to make fun of those in power is admired by people in other countries.

“This show is not important,” said Kimmel. “What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this…. Our freedom to speak is what [talk show hosts in other countries] admire most about this country. And that’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 is so dangerous.”

He also thanked ABC and acknowledged that it’s taking a risk in allowing him back on the air with the FCC’s threat still looming. Trump has targeted other talk show hosts as well, also calling for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers to be cancelled.

“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,” said Kimmel. “Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke… I hope that if [Fallon or Meyers are pulled off air], or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week. 

“We have to speak out against this because he’s not stopping. And it’s not just comedy. He’s gunning for our journalists, too. He’s suing them. He’s bullying them. Over the weekend, his Foxy friend Pete Hegseth announced a new policy that requires journalists with Pentagon press credentials to sign a pledge promising not to report information that hasn’t been explicitly authorised for release. That includes unclassified information.

“They want to pick and choose what the news is. I know that’s not as interesting as muzzling a comedian, but it’s so important to have a free press, and it is nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it.”