What Jimmy Kimmel said on his first night back after suspension over Charlie Kirk comments

Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late-night show on Sept. 23 after a nearly week-long suspension.

Jimmy Kimmel at his desk during a 2024 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Kimmel will return to ABC after nearly a week off the air amid a storm of controversy.

Jimmy Kimmel has returned to "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" almost a week after ABC suspended his show over comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

In his Sept. 23 episode, the late-night TV show host addressed the suspension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" for the first time after remaining silent amid a wave of backlash against ABC and its parent company, Disney.

During his nearly 18-minute opening monologue, the Emmy-winning comedian teared up while recounting the support he received and echoing sentiments about the necessity for free speech. "This show is not important," Kimmel said at one point. "What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this."

Visibly emotional, Kimmel also addressed the comments about Kirk, the conservative podcaster's politics, and the Republican Party that prompted outrage. "It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man," he said, teary-eyed. "Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual."

Here's what he said on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

What Jimmy Kimmel said in first monologue since his suspension

As I was saying before I was interrupted … If you're just joining us, we are preempting a regularly scheduled encore episode of "Celebrity Family Feud" to bring you this special report … I'm happy to be here tonight. [cheers]

Thank you, I'm not sure who ran the weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol. It's been overwhelming. I've heard from a lot of people over the last 6 days. I’ve heard from ALL the people over — in the world over the last six days. Everyone I have ever met has reached out 10 or 11 times. Weird characters from my past. The guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle, where we are not airing tonight, by the way — sorry Seattle — his name is Larry. In 1989, Larry tried to force me to do a bit called ‘Jokes for Donuts’ where people would call in with a joke and I would give them donuts. I refused to do it, and then I made a lot of fun of Larry for suggesting it, and eventually Larry fired me, and I had to move back in with my parents. But even he wrote in to cheer me up. Thank you, Larry, and I want to thank everyone who checked in all week.

Some that I do especially want to mention are my fellow late-night talk show hosts, my friend Stephen Colbert, who found himself in this predicament. My friends Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Conan O'Brien, James Corden, Arsenio, Kathy, Wanda, Chelsea, and even Jay (Leno) reached out. I heard from late-night hosts in other countries from Ireland and from Germany. The guy in Germany offered me a job. Can you imagine? This country has become so authoritarian, the Germans are like, "Come here! Cut loose!"

My boyhood idols, Howard Stern and David Letterman, were very considerate and kind, and I feel honored to be part of a group of people that knows what goes into doing a show like this. And I also want to thank all of you, I do, thanks to — for supporting our show, to care enough to do something about it to make your voices heard so that mine could be heard. I will never forget it.

And maybe most of all, I want the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway. I never would have imagined Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz who, believe it or not, said something very beautiful on my behalf.

[plays clip of Ted Cruz] "I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired." Oh, wait, no, not that, the other part. [Cruz tape continues] "But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, 'We don’t like what you, the media, have said, we're going to ban you from the airwaves if you don't say what we like,' that will end up bad for conservatives." I don't think I've ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right. He's absolutely right. This affects all of us, including him. I mean, think about it, if Ted Cruz can’t speak freely, then he can't cast spells on the Smurfs.

Even though I don't agree with many of those people on most subjects, some of the things they say even make me wanna throw up, it takes courage for them to speak out against this administration, and they did, and they deserve credit for it. And thanks for telling their followers that our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television, and that we have to stand up to it.

Jimmy Kimmel addresses Charlie Kirk comments

I've been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight, and the truth is, I don't think what I have to say is gonna make much of a difference. If you like me, you like me, and if you don't, you don’t.

I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind. But I do wanna 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. [chokes up] 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 of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual.

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've felt the same way. I have many friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to, even though we don't agree on politics at all. 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 — ever — and also selfishly, I am a person who gets a lot of threats, I get many ugly and scary threats against my life, my wife, my kids, my coworkers because of what I choose to say, and I know those threats don't come from the kind of people on the right who I know I love, so that's what I wanted to say on that subject.

Jimmy Kimmel on freedom of speech

But I don't wanna make this about me because — and I know this is what people say when they make things about them — but I really, this show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this. I've had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk show hosts from countries like Russia and countries in the Middle East who tell me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power, and worse than being thrown in prison. They know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country.

And that's something I'm embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That's not legal, that's not American, that is un-American. And it’s so dangerous.

I want you to think about this: Should the government be allowed to regulate which podcasts the cell phone companies and Wi-Fi providers are allowed to let you download, to make sure they "serve the public interest." Do you think that sounds crazy? Ten years ago, this sounded crazy. Brandon Carr, the chairman of the FCC, telling an American company, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way" and that "These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action on Kimmel or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead," in addition to being a direct violation of the First Amendment, is not a particularly intelligent threat to make in public.

Ted Cruz said he sounded like a mafioso, although I don't know, if you wanna hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long. This genius said it on a podcast.

Jimmy Kimmel on Disney's 'conditions' for his return on-air

A lot of people have been asking me if there are conditions for my return to the air, and there is one. Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and I agreed to do it [removes a sheet of paper from his breast pocket]. Here we go: "To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your smart TV or TV-connected device."

I’ve been fortunate to work at a company that has allowed me to do the show the way we want to do it for almost 23 years. I've done almost 4,000 shows on ABC, and over that time, the people who run this network have allowed me to evolve and to stretch the boundaries of what was once traditional for a late-night talk show, even when it made them uncomfortable, which I do a lot. Every night they've defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects that I think are important by allowing me to use their platform, and I am very grateful for that.

With that said, I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on Wednesday. I did not agree with that decision, and I told (them) that, and we had many conversations. I shared my point of view, they shared theirs. We talked it through, and at the end, even though they didn't have to — they really didn't have to, this is a giant company, we have short attention spans, and I am a tiny part of the Disney corporation—they welcomed me back on the air, and I thank them for that.

Unfortunately, and I think unjustly, this unjustly puts them at risk. The President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can't take a joke.

He was somehow able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS. Then he turned his sights on me, and now he's openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows, who don't make millions of dollars. And I hope that if that happens or if there's even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week.

We have to speak out against this bully. He’s not stopping. And it’s not just comedy. He's gunning for our journalists, too. He's suing them, he's bullying them. Over the weekend, his foxy friend Pete Hegseth announced a new policy that requires journalists with Pentagon press credentials to sign a pledge promising not to report information that hasn't been explicitly authorized for release, that includes unclassified information. They want to pick and choose what the news is. I know that's not as interesting as muzzling a comedian, but it's so important to have a Free Press, and it is nuts that we aren't paying more attention to it. Walter Cronkite must be spinning in his grave right now. He's dead, right?

Look, I never imagined I’d be in a situation like this. I barely paid attention in school. But one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Howard Stern is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn't like is anti-American. That's anti-American. I’m so glad we have some solidarity on that from the right and the left and from those in the middle, like Joe Rogan.

Maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on, and maybe we'll even find another one. Maybe we can get a little bit closer together. We do agree on a lot of things. We agree on keeping our children safe from guns, reproductive rights for women, social security, affordable healthcare, pediatric cancer research — these are all things that most Americans support. Let’s stop letting these politicians tell us what they want and tell them what we want.

Jimmy Kimmel applauds Charlie's widow, Erika Kirk

There was a moment over the weekend, a very beautiful moment, I don’t know if you saw this on Sunday: Erica Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is an example we should follow [chokes up]. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was. That's it.

A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow, and it touched me deeply. And it touches many. If there's anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that, and not this. So thank you for listening, and I’ll have more to say when we come back.

Watch Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue

Jimmy Kimmel return follows outcry over ABC suspension

ABC indefinitely suspended Kimmel's show on Sept. 17 after the comedian said that the "MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize" Tyler Robinson, the suspect charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as "anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, argued Kimmel misled viewers about the political affiliation of Kirk's alleged killer by suggesting Robinson is a supporter of President Donald Trump. While appearing on Benny Johnson's YouTube show, Carr appeared to threaten ABC to take action against Kimmel.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said. "These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

Later that day, Nexstar Media Group said it would not air Kimmel's show on its ABC affiliates due to the comments, and Disney subsequently suspended production of the show.

The decision sparked significant backlash throughout the entertainment industry and beyond, as well as allegations of government censorship. Some of Kimmel's supporters vowed to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+ in protest of his suspension, and more than 400 celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston and Selena Gomez, signed an open letter from the American Civil Liberties Union backing the comedian.

Amid the growing outcry, Disney announced Sept. 22 that Kimmel's show would return. Sinclair and Nexstar, though, said they would still not air Kimmel's show on their ABC affiliates.

Carr has denied that government pressure played a role in Kimmel being pulled off the air. "Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he is in because of his ratings, not because of anything that's happened at the federal government level," the FCC chair said at a forum in New York on Sept. 22.

Contributing: Wendy Naugle, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What Jimmy Kimmel said on his first night back after suspension over Charlie Kirk comments

Reporting by Brendan Morrow and Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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