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Jimmy Kimmel made his long-awaited return on Tuesday, September 23rd, with Ben Stiller and more celebrities speaking out in support of the late-night host.
Stiller praised Kimmel’s tear-in-the-tear monologue. There, the host discussed the brief pause of his show for the first time.
“What a great monologue from Jimmy Kimmel,” Stiller wrote to X.
Don Lemon provided his commentary on the monologue, saying Kimmel had put the right tone on his way home. “It was great. I think he was right, he hit the right tone, and it’s a professional. He’s a real expert,” Lemon said in a video posted to Instagram. “I’m embarrassed by you, all those people who supported him being fired or suspended.
Lemon also shared a video clip from Kimmel’s monologue of a joke about how the controversy pushes President Donald Trump to release the Epstein Files, captioned “Release of the Epstein Files.”
In the comments on Jimmy Kimmel Live’s first post to Instagram since Kimmel was featured in front of the “On Air” sign, Kimmel has received praise from several Seabrities, including Walton Goggins, Melanie Griffiths and Jamie Foxx.
“Get Emjimmy… You’ll make you redwood,” Goggins wrote.
Stephen Colbert was cancelled days after CBS’s late show show with Stephen Colbert criticised parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement with Trump, bringing Kimmel back to the fold.
“Welcome, brothers,” Colbert wrote from his official Late Show account.
US Congressman Jasmine Crockett also shared her support in comments. “We love you!” she wrote.
The pouring of support comes after nearly a week of uncertainty surrounding the future of Jimmy Kimmel Live. On September 17th, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel will be performing live! About the indefinite break following the host’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting. The decision came shortly after FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr threatened to pursue action against the network over criticism of Trump.
ABC later reversed the decision, saying the company felt that some of Kimmel’s comments were “untimed and therefore insensitive.”
“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’s statement read. “This is a decision we made because we felt that some of the comments were poorly timed and therefore insensitive.”
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In his return monologue, Kimmel did not apologise for these comments, but was visibly emotional as he explained the effects of the shooting and the fallout of the controversy that followed.
“I posted a message on Instagram the day he was killed, sending love to his family and sought compassion. “It wasn’t my intention to blame a particular group for behaviour that was clearly a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.”
Trump wasn’t too enthusiastic about Kimmel’s return, writing about the true social society that he might “test ABC” over the show’s return.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, September 23rd.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! He returned to ABC on Tuesday night, but it didn’t air on the affiliate station owned by Nexstar and Sinclair.
