LOS ANGELES — Returning to the air to thunderous cheers and applause in his first episode since ABC suspended his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday took direct aim at President Donald Trump while also trying to smooth tensions following his joke about the Republican reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
"You understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man," Kimmel said, his voice breaking, during his opening monologue. "I don't think there's anything funny about it."
Disney-owned ABC took "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air last Wednesday after conservative fury over comments Kimmel made during a show monologue and after public criticism from the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission.
A furious backlash to ABC's decision followed, with prominent voices in and outside the entertainment industry saying it amounted to an attack on free speech by the administration.
Kimmel said Tuesday that the Trump administration "tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show, in the cities that you live in, to take my show off the air.”
"That’s not legal. That’s not American, that is un-American, and it’s so dangerous,” he said.
Trump responded on Truth Social, questioning why ABC would want “someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.”
Without providing any evidence, Trump accused Kimmel of being “yet another arm of the DNC,” saying it would be “a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”
The events that led to Kimmel's suspension began Sept. 15, five days after a gunman fatally shot Kirk, a popular activist on the right, as Kirk was at a public event at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Kimmel's comments came at a time when investigators had not released details about the suspect’s potential motives.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in the monologue.
Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged the next day with Kirk’s murder. In charging documents, prosecutors released text messages in which, they said, Robinson said he targeted Kirk because he had “had enough of his hatred.”
During his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel said it had not been his intention to "blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual."
He also praised Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, for saying at a memorial Sunday that she has forgiven her husband’s killer.
“She forgave him. That is an example we should follow,” Kimmel said, emotion in his voice. “If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was. That, that’s it. A selfless act of grace. Forgiveness from a grieving widow.”
“It touched me deeply, and I hope it touches many,” Kimmel said. “And if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that.”
On Tuesday outside the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Hollywood, where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is taped, ticket holders were eager to file in to be in the audience. Gabriela De Vries, who is from Germany, said she was shocked when the show got pulled off the air just as she had flown in to see Kimmel.
Dressed head to toe in a star-spangled outfit and matching face paint, a man who goes by Dandidi applauded those who “pressured [Disney] by taking action — no thoughts and prayers, action — by canceling their Disney, putting that heat under them.”
