Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air!
The late-night TV host marked Tuesday night as his return to the airwaves after that abrupt suspension last week following comments he made following the death of conservative political pundit Charlie Kirk.
Fans have been waiting to see what would happen upon the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to ABC. And even though Tuesday’s comeback wasn’t aired on all ABC affiliates across the country, the episode still marked a momentous occasion for Jimmy, his staff, and his viewers — oh, and social media users, too, of course.
Related: John Oliver BLASTS ‘Cowards’ At ABC & Disney Over Kimmel Suspension!
Tuesday night’s guests were actor Glen Powell and musical guest Sarah McLachlan. And look, no shade intended towards them, but… nobody was there to see them do their thing. Nahhhh, everybody tuned in to see what Kimmel would say about getting pulled off air!
So, without further ado, here we go…
Kimmel entered the studio to ROARING applause, with the audience giving him a standing ovation, chanting “Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy,” and more. See for yourself:
Jimmy Kimmel returns to his show to a huge standing ovation.
“Anyway… as I was saying before I was interrupted” pic.twitter.com/NBfvZeGghv
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 24, 2025
He thanked them for their support, then started his comeback monologue by joking:
“If you’re just joining us, we are preempting a regularly scheduled encore episode of Celebrity Family Feud to bring you this special report.
The 57-year-old comedian then referenced RFK Jr.’s “autism announcement” that was dropped on Monday, quipping:
“I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol.”
By the way, experts have largely refuted the MAHA claim that the only doctor-approved painkiller for pregnant women is a cause for autism, but we digress…
He continued:
“It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days. I’ve heard from all the people all over the world, over the last reached out 10 or 11 times, weird characters from my past, or the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle, not airing tonight by the way.”
He also thanked right wing voices like Ted Cruz‘s that warned against such retaliation and what it means for the first amendment.
“It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration. They did and they deserve credit for it.”
Kimmel then made it extremely clear his intention was to never make light of Kirk’s death, saying:
“I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to 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. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make.”
Remember, he never actually made a joke about the death of Kirk. In fact, he strongly condemned the assassination the day it happened and sent his sincere condolences to the family. No, he was pulled over his comments about the gunman and the right wing reaction to it all.
Regardless, he still knows it was wrong and unAmerican for ABC affiliates to respond the way they did, calling out Donald Trump‘s FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for publicly saying the network would get pressure regarding Kimmel’s comments. If you missed it, Carr went on a podcast and said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” and “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Kimmel spoke out about the importance of not being censored:
“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. … 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. … The President is 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 if that happens you will be ten times as loud as you were this week. We have to speak out against this. It’s so important to have a free press. And it is nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it.”
Overall the entire monologue was a poignant message of unity for all Americans and our first amendment rights. It was also one for healing. He ended on a note about Erika Kirk‘s speech from the podcaster’s memorial service on Sunday, specifically her public forgiveness for the assassin. Kimmel said that’s what the teachings of Jesus Christ are all about it — forgiveness. Through tears he admitted it touched him deeply, saying “if there is anything we should take from this tragedy, it’s that.”
Watch it all for yourself (below):
BTW, Jimmy Kimmel Live! will welcome Ethan Hawke, Lisa Ann Walter, and musical guest Yungblud on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Peyton Manning, Oscar Nuñez, and musical guest Alex G will show out.
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[Image via Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube]
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