Jimmy Kimmel has returned to social media for the first time since his talk show was suspended to share a post about the late Norman Leah.
“I don’t have this guy today,” the comedian captioned an Instagram post Tuesday.
In the photo, Kimmel placed his arm around Leah, who died in December 2023 at the age of 101 when he smiled for the camera.
In the 2023 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, 57-year-old Kimmel pays homage to the legendary television producer, calling him “the great man who was not just the giants of the television world, but one of the most important and impressive people I’ve ever had the joy of meetings.”
“He changed the situational comedy in the best possible way,” the voice actor for “Boss Baby” added.
“He has taught us so many serious things, and it always makes us laugh while he does it.
Leah, best known for creating the comedy series “All in the Family,” is famously opposed to the Federal Communications Commission’s ruling during his career.
In 1976, the co-creator of “Good Times” was one of several stars who signed the lawsuit against a federal ruling on “family viewing times,” demanding that programming from 7 to 9pm was suitable for all ages.
Kimmel’s famous posts and his late-night talk show is set to return to TV.
On Monday, the Walt Disney Company issued a statement confirming, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” It will air on Tuesday.
“Last Wednesday, we decided to suspend production of the show, avoiding further inflammatory conditions that were tense in our country’s emotional moments,” the company explained in a statement.
“This is a decision we made because we felt that some of the comments were poorly timed and therefore insensitive. We spent our last day having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Kimmel’s show was stopped last week after briefly discussing Charlie Kirk’s death during his monologue. The right-wing political activist was shot dead on September 10th while speaking at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old.
“The Magazine gang is desperately trying to characterise the child who killed Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them, and they are doing everything they can to score political points from there,” Kimmel said at the time.
Sinclair, a media company run as the largest ABC affiliate group, has kept the talk show in the air by Kimmel issued an on-air apology to Kirk’s family and donating to Turning Point USA, the late podcaster’s nonprofit.
However, the former reportedly refused, “Who wants to be a billionaire?”
Kimmel reportedly decided to return to the air for the staff.
