Kimmel nearly breaks down, addresses Charlie Kirk remarks in TV return

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American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, suspended a week ago for controversial remarks in the wake of the death of American conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, walked back into his television studio today, greeted by a standing ovation and chants of “Jimmy! Jimmy!”.

Despite fears that the three-way clash between Donald Trump’s White House, conservative owned-TV stations which had threatened to boycott Kimmel’s show and Kimmel’s employer Disney would take months to repair, at just under a week Kimmel’s suspension was relatively brief.

“I am happy to be here with you tonight,” Kimmel told his audience. “I am not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol,” referring to news coverage of President Trump’s comments that paracetamol, an over-the-counter pain medication, is responsible for autism.

Kimmel’s return to the studio floor was emotional at times, and far more candid than many had anticipated. This was no brief statement and let’s get on with the show. Kimmel’s response – to Disney, to Trump, to his critics and to his supporters – dominated the first half of the program.

Kimmel also teared up, acknowledging the powerful example of Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk forgiving her husband’s killer.

And those were not performative tears: regular viewers of Kimmel’s show know he frequently cries, either when reacting to affecting news headlines, or when he shares difficulties in his own life.

In many ways, Kimmel’s ease with sharing his emotions is a huge part of the reason his show remains popular.

Directly addressing the remarks which triggered his suspension, Kimmel’s voice broke. “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram on 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,” Kimmel continued. “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 would 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.”

In his opening monologue, Kimmel acknowledged the support of his “fellow TV talk shows hosts”, name-checking many of them, “as well as Arsenio [Hall], Kathy [Griffin], Chelsea [Handler], even Jay [Leno] called, and hosts from Ireland and Germany. Can you imagine? This country has become so authoritive that Germany is offering me a job?”

Kimmel also thanked “even my old pal Ted Cruz”, acknowledging comments by the Trump-supporting senator from Texas supporting free speech, and acknowledging that the Trump-controlled FCC threatening the ABC network, was dangerous.

“That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it,” Cruz said.

Cruz said that the government attempting to ban or regulate the media “will end up bad for conservatives” because future Democrat-led governments could use the precedent to do the same.

“I don’t think I’ve ever said before, but Ted Cruz is right,” Kimmel said.

Taking aim directly at President Trump, Kimmel replayed a video clip of Trump from 2002, in which he said: “If we don’t have free speech, we don’t have a free country.”

Kimmel also criticised Trump directly for saying TV networks should cancel the talk shows which criticise him. “Our president celebrates people losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,” Kimmel noted. And he played another archival clip, in which Trump said: “I’ve always been thin-skinned. I’ve been thin-skinned since day one.”

The Disney-owned US network ABC suspended Kimmel after he commented on the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. The suspension seemed contextually problematic from the beginning: Kimmel’s comments were relatively mild, while more offensive remarks from both liberal and conservative commentators passed by without objection.

Disney’s CEO Bob Iger also took heat from the studio’s former CEO, Michael Eisner, who posted a short but stinging statement on social media: “Where has all the leadership gone?” Eisner added a wry postscript: “This ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.”

Eisner’s comments reflected a dramatic elevation of internal criticism over Disney’s decision to cave in almost immediately to conservative pressure. The ironic footnote? The ban on airing Kimmel’s show from conservative-owned TV station owners Nexstar and Sinclair are still enforcing the ban.

Neither Kimmel’s suspension, nor his return after barely a week, has changed that outcome for Disney. Those station owners control about one-quarter of the local US stations which air an ABC network feed, including the Kimmel program. At this stage, neither has said when, or if, they will return Kimmel to their schedules.

In the wake of Kimmel’s suspension, hundreds of high-profile American celebrities signed an open letter published by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), supporting Kimmel and saying “we the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech”.

The letter’s signatories included actors Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Pedro Pascal and Ben Stiller, playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kimmel’s talk show competitors, including Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Seth Meyers.

Seinfeld and Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus posted a statement on social media warning that “if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us”.

Actor Jason Bateman spoke on the US Today program, saying “you just can’t stand by and let stuff like that go on”.