Disney says Kimmel will return to the air on Tuesday, six days after suspension

Highlights:

• Show was suspended over monologue comments about Kirk killing
• Disney calls Kimmel's remarks 'ill-timed and thus insensitive'
• Kimmel's return marks major challenge to Trump's crackdown on media critics

Disney said on Monday it would return comedian Jimmy Kimmel to late-night television on Tuesday, six days after his show was threatened with a regulatory probe and suspended over comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Disney's move to restore the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show to the lineup of its ABC network represented the highest-profile challenge yet from a communications company to an escalating crackdown by US President Donald Trump on his perceived media critics through litigation and threats of regulatory action.

Kimmel, who has frequently ridiculed Trump on his show, drew outrage from conservatives for saying that Trump's supporters were desperate to characterize Kirk's accused assassin "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 Monday night broadcast, five days after Kirk, an influential Trump ally, author and radio-podcast host, was shot dead while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem.

In the wake of threats of investigation, fines and broadcast license revocations from the Federal Communications Commission chairman, and a boycott by many of ABC's affiliate stations, Disney said last Wednesday it was shutting down production of Kimmel's program indefinitely.

Reversing course and announcing that Kimmel was coming back on Tuesday, Disney said it had initially suspended Kimmel's show "to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country."

Disney added that it found Kimmel's comments about Kirk "were ill-timed and thus insensitive," but the entertainment giant stopped short of an outright apology.

Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden spoke with Kimmel over the weekend and reached a decision on Monday to return Kimmel to the air, according to two people familiar with the matter. The decision was guided by what was in the entertainment company's best interest, rather than external pressure from station owners or the FCC, the sources said.

CONSUMER BACKLASH?

Another source at the company said Disney also was feeling pressure from a campaign mounted by supporters of Kimmel urging consumers to cancel their subscriptions to the Disney+ paid streaming service in protest. Google searches for "how to cancel Disney+" spiked to a 12-month high, according to Google Trends.

Kimmel is expected to address the issue when his show returns on Tuesday, according the sources. It was not known whether the late-night host planned to apologize or would be required to restrict or tone down any of his commentary.

A spokeswoman for Kimmel could not immediately be reached for comment.

Also left unclear was whether ABC's two biggest affiliate television groups, NextStar Media Group and Sinclair, would eventually agree to resume carrying the show once it returned to the network.

There was no immediate comment from NextStar, which needs FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna. Sinclair said it would continue preempting Kimmel's time slot on Tuesday with news programming while conducting talks with ABC "as we evaluate the show's potential return."

Disney's turnabout was likely based on business considerations rather than the desire to uphold free speech rights, as enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, said Susan Campbell, a media studies professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.

"Consumers were exercising their own First Amendment rights and ending their subscriptions to the company's streaming services," Campbell said. "My hope is that Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air with no new restrictions as to the topics he can explore and the approach he can take in his explorations."

In a message posted on social media platform X, Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Kirk's conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, accused Disney and ABC of "caving" to public pressure, adding, "but it's their mistake to make."

Trump, who has repeatedly pressured broadcasters to stop airing content that he has found objectionable, had celebrated the news of Kimmel's suspension last week and referred to it erroneously as an outright cancellation of the show.

REMARKS FACED CRITICISM

Kimmel became the most prominent public figure embroiled in efforts by Trump to punish critics of Kirk in the aftermath of his slaying even as his assassination was universally condemned across the ideological spectrum as a barbaric act of political violence.

A 22-year-old technical school student from Utah has been charged with Kirk's murder. The precise motive for the killing remains unclear.

In response to Kimmel's comment about the case last Monday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr urged local broadcasters to stop airing the late-night show and suggested the commission could open an investigation leading to potential fines or broadcast license suspensions of local stations if a pattern of news distortion was found.

"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said in a podcast interview that aired on Wednesday. His remarks drew criticism from across the political spectrum.

Earlier on Monday, Carr insisted that Disney's decision to yank Kimmel from the air was a business one, not the result of government action. "Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he is in because of his ratings," Carr said at a forum before Kimmel was reinstated.

Carr did not immediately comment on Disney's action.

Disney shares, which fell in trading last week, closed down 1% on Monday.

Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Collage: CNN via Getty

HOLLYWOOD STARS BACK KIMMEL IN FREE SPEECH LETTER

More than 400 actors, musicians and filmmakers, including Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, have signed an open letter supporting late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after his ABC show was suspended.

The letter, organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), criticizes what it describes as "government threats to our freedom of speech" following pressure from officials to remove Kimmel from the air, says CNN.

"We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech," the letter said. "Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country."

Disney-owned ABC said last week that Jimmy Kimmel Live would be "pre-empted indefinitely." The move followed criticism from Republican officials after Kimmel commented on the suspected killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, appointed during Donald Trump's presidency, publicly called on Disney to act, prompting several affiliates to drop the show.

The ACLU letter said Kimmel's suspension "marks a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation" and warned that retaliation against entertainers, journalists and others "runs counter to the values our nation was built upon."

Signatories include Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Selena Gomez, Natalie Portman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Martin Short and Olivia Rodrigo, alongside writers, directors and political activists.

"We know this moment is bigger than us and our industry," the statement added. "Teachers, government employees, law firms, researchers, universities, students and so many more are also facing direct attacks on their freedom of expression."

ABC has not commented further on the show's future. Sources told CNN that Kimmel and his representatives have been in discussions with Disney executives.