Stephen Colbert has expressed his delight over Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show return following its controversial suspension due to comments relating to the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Last week, it was announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! had been pulled from the ABC Network, which is owned by Disney, over the late night host’s comments after the killing of the right-wing activist.
The subsequent fallout saw the show taken off-air indefinitely, a move that sparked a strong response from either side of the political spectrum. President Donald Trump celebrated the decision, while most of Hollywood’s labour unions reacted to the decision with anger and protest.
Fellow host Colbert also called Kimmel’s suspension “blatant censorship”. “With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch,” he added. “Jimmy, I stand with you and your staff 100 per cent.”
Yesterday (Monday September 22), Disney confirmed Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be returning tonight (September 23) after “having thoughtful conversations” with the host.
Reacting to the show’s return, Colbert said on his own the Late Show: “We do, like, 160 of these a year or something, and when I have the chance, it’s always nice to start the show with some good news.
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“Well, just a few hours before we taped this broadcast, we got word that our long national late nightmare is over, because Disney announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to air on ABC tomorrow, Tuesday night. Come on! Wonderful news for my dear friend Jimmy and his amazing staff.”
Colbert then grabbed the Emmy that he won last weekend for outstanding talk show, adding: “I’m so happy for them, plus, now that Jimmy’s not being cancelled, I get to enjoy this again! Once more, I am the only martyr in late nights. Wait, unless, CBS, you want to announce anything?”
His own show was recently cancelled in a move that shocked the TV industry. Despite CBS’ assertion that the cancellation was purely for “financial reasons”, some speculated that the move may be politically motivated.
As for Colbert’s own theory on why Kimmel was re-instated, last night he said: “Here’s why Disney folded. After Kimmel was suspended, Google searches for ‘cancel Disney+’ and ‘cancel Hulu’ spiked — which explains why the other trending search was ‘how to entertain feral child without Bluey?’.
“So Disney put Kimmel back on because you, the American people, were upset. But not just people. Also Ted Cruz. Cruz was one of the conservatives who were outraged by the administration’s attack on free speech.”
Colbert added: “Welcome back, Jimmy. Long may you wave.”
Reports had emerged in recent days that Kimmel’s business and legal representatives were in discussions with Disney and ABC executives in the hope of reaching a compromise.
Among those to speak out against the suspension along with Colbert were comedian and podcaster Marc Maron, who called it “government censorship”, Olivia Rodrigo, who labelled it “blatant censorship”, and Pedro Pascal, who stressed the importance of free speech and democracy.
Over the weekend, John Cleese and Piers Morgan clashed over the cancellation after Morgan questioned Kimmel being “heralded as some kind of free speech martyr”.
The topic worked itself into Trump’s speech at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday (September 21), where he once again took aim at his political opponents on the “radical left” and addressed the backlash about Kimmel’s show being axed.
“The same commentators who this week are screaming fascism over a cancelled late-night TV show, where the anchor had no talent and no ratings, last week were implying that Charlie Kirk deserved what happened to him,” he said.
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