Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves on Tuesday evening after his late-night show was preempted for nearly a week.

In a more than 15-minute monologue at the top of the show, Kimmel gave an impassioned defense of free speech, needled the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and President Donald Trump and explained his comments about the response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, his voice choking up with emotion. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

Nor, he said, was it his intention to blame any specific group, saying he understood that, to some, that’s what it sounded like.

“That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make,” Kimmel said. “But

See Full Page