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Jimmy Kimmel is set to return to late-night TV days after he was taken off air over his comments regarding Charlie Kirk.
In a broadcast which aired last week, the beloved host discussed the reception following the death of the right-wing political commentator – who was shot while speaking at a campus event in Utah earlier this month.
In his monologue, the 57-year-old claimed that the ‘MAGA gang’ was trying to gain political points over the incident, leading to Disney and ABC pulling his show from the air ‘indefinitely’.
After intense outrage from fans, and more than 400 celebrities signing an open letter condemning the decision, bosses have now backtracked and confirmed that Jimmy Kimmel Live will be back 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,’ a statement from ABC and Disney said.
‘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.’
Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was a close ally of President Donald Trump and an infamous commenter on issues including trans rights and gun control.
In shocking scenes, he was visiting Utah Valley University with his wife and kids as part of his group’s ‘America Comeback Tour’ when he was shot in the neck.
On Monday’s episode of the show – which Kimmel has hosted since 2003 – he referenced the situation in his opening monologue.
‘We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it,’ he said.
He also mentioned Trump and sarcastically said how ‘hard the President is taking this’, before playing a clip of the politician being asked about Kirk’s death and pointing out construction of the White House.
Jimmy Kimmel Live was removed from broadcasting ‘indefinitely’ in the wake of Kimmel’s comments – a decision which came after Nexstar Media, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, said it would not air the show following his remarks.
Trump later touched on the news in a press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, claiming that the five-time Oscars host was suspended because he is ‘not a talented individual’.
‘Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,’ he said.
‘And Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person and he had bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago, so you can call that free speech or not, he was fired for lack of talent.’
‘Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible,’ he added on social media.
‘That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC.’