After a week-long standoff that raised questions about democracy, Jimmy Kimmel Live! is set to return to ABC on Tuesday. The late-night talk show was cancelled after host Jimmy Kimmel made comments about Charlie Kirk.
While ABC has confirmed the show’s comeback, not all of its affiliated stations will air Jimmy Kimmel Live! Sinclair, one of America’s biggest owners of local TV stations, has announced that Kimmel’s show will be preempted “beginning Tuesday night” and that it will air news programming in the time slot instead.
Biggest Hollywood stars back Kimmel
Before news broke of his anticipated return on Monday, over 400 artists, including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and Jennifer Aniston, had signed an open letter organised by the ACLU in support of Kimmel.
Over the past week, coordinated protests took place outside Disney offices in New York and Burbank, California, as well as outside the Hollywood theatre where Kimmel’s show is filmed.
A source has told CNN that Kimmel will address the controversy in a monologue on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, PEN America, one of the many free expression groups that slammed the show’s suspension, said that its reinstatement is “a vindication for free speech.” PEN America interim co-CEO Summer Lopez said, “The ABC announcement is both remedying his unjustifiable suspension and reminding us that when people speak out to hold the powerful to account – it matters.”
Why was the show banned?
In his monologue, Kimmel accused Maga of painting Robinson as “anything other than one of them”. “The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said in the Monday broadcast.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe late-night host has been frequently in the crosshairs of Trump and his administration. In the Monday show, he also criticised the flags being flown at half-staff in honour of Kirk, and mocked Trump’s reaction to the shooting.
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