Disney announced "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will return to ABC on Tuesday, following "thoughtful conversations" between officials and Kimmel about his suspension.
Disney announced "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will return to the ABC network on Tuesday night, ending the show's controversial suspension in the wake of the host's comments about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk's alleged killer. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI UPI Activists protest in support of Jimmy Kimmel outside the El Capitan Entertainment Center on Hollywood Boulevard where the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show is taped in Los Angeles on Thursday. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI UPI Jimmy Kimmel (L) and Molly McNearney arrives for the 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles in September. File Photo by Alex Gallardo/UPI. UPI Jimmy Kimmel and Molly McNearney attend the Children's Hospital Los Angeles CHLA gala at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, in 2022. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI UPI
Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Disney announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to ABC network on Tuesday night, following "thoughtful conversations" with Kimmel.
The late night talk series was indefinitely suspended Wednesday after Kimmel made comments on-air regarding the shooting death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Disney said the show will return to its regular time slot on Tuesday.
"Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country," the company said in a statement.
"It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday."
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Kimmel raised controversy during his Sept. 15 show when speaking about Kirk's alleged killer, Tyler Robinson.
"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," Kimmel said.
The comments received condemnation from local station group Nexstar, which released a statement saying it would "preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future" as the company "strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk."
Rival station group Sinclair released a similar statement shortly after Nexstar's announcement.
Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened ABC with government action if the network failed to take action against Kimmel.
News of Disney's preempting the show resulted in an outpouring of support for Kimmel from celebrities including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller and Jamie Lee Curtis. Tatiana Maslany, star of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+, called on fans to cancel their subscriptions to the streaming platform as a show of support for the host.
It remained unclear Monday whether Nexstar and Sinclair stations would be airing the program Tuesday night. Sinclair previously said the conditions for Kimmel's return to its stations would include the host apologizing for his comments, meeting with Sinclair officials and making a donation to Kirk's conservative action organization, Turning Point.