\n<\/p>\n
Jimmy Kimmel returned to late night yesterday after nearly a week off the air with a monologue that largely dispensed with laughs. Instead, over the course of nearly 20 minutes, he ran right at his critics, and stated plainly what many commentators have argued since production of Jimmy Kimmel Live was suspended last Wednesday: \u201cOur government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a forceful beginning to the episode, but also a fairly sober one\u2014a speech that underlined the surreality of recent events, during which an irreverent talk-show comedian became a government target and a chilling, public example of the erosion of constitutional rights under President Donald Trump. Kimmel, who has spent most of his late-night career as a flippant, but not particularly scandalous figure, acknowledged just how scary things had become that the White House might take aim at him. \u201cThis show is not important, he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jimmy Kimmel Live resumed production after a tense week for ABC, which airs the show, and its parent company, Disney. Protests against the host\u2019s pre-emption\u2014which, in a Monday statement announcing that the show would be back the following night, Disney cited as a decision made to \u201cavoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country\u201d\u2014mounted. Kimmel\u2019s quip about how the \u201cMAGA gang\u201d was characterizing Charlie Kirk\u2019s alleged assassin during last Monday\u2019s episode had provoked Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. \u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr had said in response during a podcast interview last Wednesday. \u201cThese companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carr\u2019s threat\u2014and the resulting removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live from broadcast\u2014quickly raised alarm bells around Hollywood, where hundreds of Kimmel\u2019s peers signed an open letter by the American Civil Liberties Union, expressing support of the host.\u00a0 Officials in Washington, including those from both sides of the aisle, also expressed frustration with the commissioner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, \u2018We\u2019re going to decide what speech we like and what we don\u2019t, and we\u2019re going to threaten to take you off air if we don\u2019t like what you\u2019re saying,\u2019\u201d Senator Ted Cruz remarked on his podcast. Senator Rand Paul also called the commissioner\u2019s comments \u201cabsolutely inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his monologue, Kimmel acknowledged his surprise and appreciation for people like Cruz, a frequent punchline on the show, coming to his defense. \u201cMaybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don\u2019t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,\u201d he said, before playing the clip from Cruz\u2019s podcast. Kimmel\u2019s punchline: \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cruz and Paul were among the rare elected Republican voices amongst a chorus expressing similar concerns\u2014that the pressure being put on ABC set a concerning precedent for free speech. Even Carr, who initially seemed to celebrate Jimmy Kimmel Live\u2019s indefinite hiatus, attempted to walk back the idea that the FCC had been responsible. \u201cJimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he is in because of his ratings, not because of anything that’s happened at the federal government level,\u201d he claimed on Monday, while speaking at a forum in New York.<\/p>\n
Kimmel was plainly scornful of Carr upon his return, calling the commissioner\u2019s behavior \u201ca direct violation of the First Amendment\u201d and poking at his approach: \u201cIf you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long. This genius said it on a podcast.\u201d Later in the show, the host did a segment with Robert De Niro, who appeared in-character as a new, even more threatening FCC commissioner making naked threats to Disney.<\/p>\n
Kimmel\u2019s strident stance last night made clear that he had prevailed in his weeklong power struggle with Disney; he was addressing the controversy on what seemed to be his own terms. While the comedian did acknowledge his comments about the man suspected of killing Kirk, he offered no direct apology. (He also avoided discussing the substance of his joke, which some had interpreted as implying the murder was an act of right-wing violence, which available evidence contradicts.) But Kimmel choked up as he insisted, \u201cI do want to make something clear, because it\u2019s important to me as a human. And that is, you understand it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued, \u201cNor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some that either felt ill-timed or unclear. Or maybe both. For those who think I did point a finger, I get why you\u2019re upset.\u201d In his monologue, however, Kimmel was uninterested in further litigating those comments, preferring to focus on the First Amendment threat he saw in the FCC\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n
In all, suspending Kimmel stood to do more harm than good for Disney. The late-night host\u2019s contract at ABC isn\u2019t up until May 2026; removing him from the airwaves permanently would not have saved the network much money. That\u2019s why Stephen Colbert remains at CBS through next May, even if his show has become unprofitable\u2014his contract as the host of The Late Show has to be honored either way. Beyond that, the public reaction to Kimmel\u2019s pre-emption was strong enough that it seemed to be costing Disney just as dearly. Its stock price briefly declined in the days after the news, hundreds of celebrities campaigned on Kimmel\u2019s behalf, and even some Disney influencers were calling for organized boycotts of the company. Kimmel himself mocked the backlash on last night\u2019s show, producing a piece of paper and reading a statement on his bosses\u2019 behalf that instructed viewers on how to reactivate their Disney+ subscriptions.<\/p>\n
After Kimmel\u2019s monologue, the episode proceeded as Jimmy Kimmel Live tends to do, with some more political jabs (largely aimed at Trump) and a glitzy celebrity interview with the actor Glen Powell. The host\u2019s tone was less triumphant than resolute: He seemed convinced of the glum realities of our political moment. He criticized Trump for calling for his show\u2019s cancellation, and those of the NBC shows hosted by Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, pointing out that hundreds of employees at each program would be affected along with the hosts. \u201cOur leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can\u2019t take a joke,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cLet\u2019s stop letting these politicians tell us what they want and tell them what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel has frequently pondered retirement of late; \u201cI think this is my final contract,\u201d he mused to the Los Angeles Times in 2024. More recently, he equivocated, acknowledging the crew that relies on him for employment: \u201cI\u2019ve realized that there\u2019s no point in talking about it. It upsets the people I work with,\u201d he said in an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year. But it seems doubtful that Kimmel\u2019s reign as the longest-tenured late-night host still working will last much longer.<\/p>\n
What was clear last night, though, was that Kimmel did not just want to vanish from ABC. His presence on TV is still inspiring panic and outrage, with local TV affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair refusing to broadcast his show pending further discussions with ABC. But the bellicosity surrounding Kimmel\u2019s comments has also receded: Sinclair dropped its idea of airing a special about Kirk in Kimmel\u2019s timeslot (a re-run of Celebrity Family Feud aired instead). Late night on network television, as a medium, has an outdated business model, and some companies may not go to the trouble of offering it as the media landscape continues to shift. But when Kimmel steps away from the desk, it\u2019ll likely be his decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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