Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show, which was abruptly pulled from the air last week after the US government threatened broadcasters, will be back this week, Disney has announced.
The sudden suspension by ABC, which is owned by Disney, came after conservative complaints about comments Kimmel had made after the shooting of Christian activist Charlie Kirk.
“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.
“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Kimmel’s abrupt disappearance from the airwaves, apparently after Government pressure on broadcasters who distribute ABC, sparked fury in liberal America. Critics said Kimmel had been targeted because he is a frequent critic of US President Donald Trump.
Trump had celebrated Kimmel’s removal, calling it “great news for America”.
Opponents saw it as the latest step in creeping Government control of free speech - an article of faith for many Americans, as well as a right enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Some on the right were also uneasy, including people who regularly count themselves as Trump allies, like Ted Cruz, the conservative senator from Texas, and firebrand broadcaster Tucker Carlson.
On Friday, Trump again complained about negative media coverage of him, which he said he thought was “illegal”.
The Kimmel episode came a week after Kirk, a close Trump ally, was shot dead on a Utah university campus, setting off a bitter battle over responsibility in deeply polarised America, with conservatives - including Trump - blaming “the radical left”.
Authorities have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson and have not indicated they are looking for anyone else.
In his show-opening monologue last Monday, Kimmel said “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid... as anything other than one of them”.
He then showed footage of Trump pivoting from a question about how he had been affected by Kirk’s death to boasting about the new ballroom he is building at the White House, prompting laughter from the studio audience.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish,” Kimmel said.
Two days later, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licenses of ABC affiliates that broadcast Kimmel’s show.
“I think it’s past time these [affiliates] themselves push back... and say, ‘Listen, we’re not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we’re running the possibility of license revocation from the FCC,’” he told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.
Hours later, Nexstar, one of the country’s biggest owners of ABC affiliate stations, announced it would be removing the show from its stations.
Nexstar is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar merger with a rival that will require FCC approval.
ABC then followed suit, pulling the show nationwide.
Before Disney’s about-face, a constellation of Hollywood stars signed an open letter calling the decision to pull the show “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation [that is] unconstitutional and un-American.”
“The Government is threatening private companies and individuals that the President disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered,” said the letter by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Signatories to the letter included Marvel star Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro.
– Agence France-Presse