By Joseph Lord
Contributing Writer
ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel drew in over 6 million viewers for his first broadcast on Tuesday after his show was suspended over recent comments he made about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The network said 6.26 million people tuned in for Kimmel’s return as host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday evening after the show was suspended for six days due to a monologue Kimmel delivered about Kirk’s suspected killer that Disney, ABC’s parent company, called “ill-timed” and “insensitive.”
According to ABC, Kimmel’s return marked a 10-year ratings high among adult viewers. The show typically attracts an average of 1.42 million nightly viewers according to the network.
On social media, the monologue attracted nearly 26 million views, ABC said.
Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group announced ahead of Kimmel’s return to the air that broadcasters under its umbrella would continue to preempt the show. Nexstar owns 32 ABC stations across the United States. Sinclair owns 30 ABC affiliate stations.
President Donald Trump was critical of ABC’s move to bring Kimmel back on the air, suggesting that the administration may pursue legal action against ABC on the basis of “illegal campaign contribution[s].”
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his show was cancelled!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social before the show started.
Trump called Kimmel an “arm of the [Democratic National Committee],” saying that Kimmel’s apparent favorability toward Democrats could constitute “a major Illegal campaign contribution.”
“I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do,” Trump wrote. “Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million. This one sounds even more lucrative.”
Trump was referencing a December 2024 ruling in a defamation lawsuit in which ABC agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit with Trump over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ on-air statements.
During his Tuesday night monologue, Kimmel acknowledged the backlash over his comments and said that he never intended to make light of Kirk’s killing.
“I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human, and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” he told the audience. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
Kimmel called the president’s efforts to get his show taken off the air “un-American.”
“He tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly,” Kimmel said.
The late-night host said he posted on Instagram after Kirk’s death, sending love to Kirk’s family and asking people to show compassion.
“I meant it, and I still do,” Kimmel said about the supportive sentiments he had posted.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” he said.
“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.”
Polarizing Commentary
In a show days before his brief suspension, Kimmel delivered a controversial monologue about Kirk’s suspected killer, saying, “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 doing everything they can to score political points from it.” MAGA refers to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” policy agenda.
He was referencing Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter in Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.
According to FBI disclosures, Robinson’s family has stated that Robinson had become more politically involved and favorable to left-wing politics in recent months, including pro-gay and pro-transgender views.
In the wake of the monologue, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr publicly raised the possibility of federal action against those who broadcast Kimmel’s show, citing potentially misleading content.
In an interview on Sept. 17 with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Carr described Kimmel’s monologue about Robinson as an effort “to play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA- or Republican-motivated person.”
“What people don’t understand is that the broadcasters … have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” he said.
Carr suggested that broadcasters who air “Jimmy Kimmel Live” could face investigation, fines, or license revocations.
ABC on the same day announced that it was pulling broadcasts of Kimmel’s show.
Aldgra Fredly and Reuters contributed to this report.
