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Jimmy Kimmel’s “undefined” break has ended and Stephen Colbert has an idea.
On Monday, September 22nd, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (the late show with Stephen Colbert that was cancelled after 10 seasons) detailed his feelings at hosts 61 after Kimmel’s late-night program aired after a brief suspension.
“We have 160 of these people doing a year or something. It’s always great to start a show with good news when you have the chance,” Colbert said. “Well, a few hours before recording this broadcast, Disney announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live will be back on ABC tomorrow, Tuesday night, so we got the word that the long national late night was over.
Continuing with Jimmy Kimmel Live! Pulled by ABC on Wednesday, September 17th (days after the host commented on the death of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk), the Walt Disney Company announced it would return to air.
On Monday in the statement on September 22nd, Disney confirmed that “we have made the decision to suspend production at the show in order to avoid further inflaming the tense situation in our country’s emotional moments,” and decided to reclaim the show ever since.
“This is a decision we made because we felt that some of the comments were not timing and therefore insensitive,” the statement read. “We spent our last day in thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! I will return to ABC on Tuesday, September 23rd.
Colbert previously called Kimmel’s removal from the ABC lineup the “Blatant Censorship” format, sharing it during taping on Thursday, September 18th, showing that he stands with Kimmel and staff “100%” on each CNBC.
“I say this about my network. They wouldn’t have done this. Now, regardless of what you’re thinking, what it’s already going on and what it looks like, this is weak. This is blatant censorship,” he said according to a New York post.
Colbert’s comments come after an ABC spokesman confirmed to people that Kimmel’s show will air “indefinitely” at that point. This is the decision that came after Kimmel’s on-air comments while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10th.
On a September 15th episode of his show, Kimmel stated:
He previously expressed his sadness to Kirk’s family on social media, saying, “Can I just agree that shooting another person in place of an angry finger point is a scary and monster?
Frank Misselotta/Disney; James Devanney/GC
Kimmel’s removal, following the removal of Nexstar Media, the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the United States, announced that it would acquire rival broadcaster Tegna for $6.2 billion, to 80% of American television-owned households. The acquisition requires final approval from the FCC, managed by Donald Trump.
Nexstar later shared that he “strongly opposed Kimmel’s recent comments on the murder of Charlie Kirk, replacing the show with other programming in the ABC-related market.”
The company recently announced plans to acquire rival broadcaster Tegna for $6.2 billion for $6.2 billion, bringing Nexstar to 80% of American television-owned households, according to a press release. The acquisition will require final approval from the Federal Communications Commission, managed by Trump.
FCC Chair Brendan Kerr praised the Nexter for putting pressure on ABC to pull Kimmel, posting “It’s important that the broadcaster pushes back Disney programming that it deems lacking in the value of the community.”
In the aftermath of the announcement, President Donald Trump shared his thoughts on Kimmel’s holidays and characterized it as a fire. “Jimmy Kimmel was fired for having the worst reviews above all else and said some horrible things about a great man named Charlie Kirk,” Trump wrote on his true social platform. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he has a very bad review and they should have fired him a long time ago.”
“Whether you can call that freedom of speech,” the president continued. “He was fired for a lack of talent.”
Before Disney announced on September 22nd, more than 400 celebrities signed an open letter issued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in support of Kimmel and freedom of speech. Among those who signed the letter were Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short, Meryl Streep and Kelly Washington.
