After a week of controversy and boycotts, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to late-night television last night. The Disney-owned ABC talk show was yanked off the air following a monologue in which Kimmel claimed the Republican party was using the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk for “political points.” The entire fiasco has been seen by many as a high-profile example of the Trump administration making a calculated strike against free speech in an effort to silence the president’s critics, but on Tuesday, September 23, Kimmel retook the stage to deliver a nearly 28-minute monologue about the situation, Trump’s colossal tantrum, and the fact that he tried to link autism to Tylenol with zero scientific backing.
You can watch the full monologue here, in which a teary-eyed Kimmel greets a chanting audience, thanking people for their support over the past week, including the right-wing figures who spoke about how dangerous it was for the president to try to silence his critics. He also gets choked up while saying it was “never [his] intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
Kimmel continued,
I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion. I meant it, and I still do. Nor 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 undestand that, to some, that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both. For those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way. I have many friends and family members on the “other side” who I love and remain close to even though we don’t agree on politics at all. I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution, and it isn’t, ever.
After clarifying his stance on Kirk’s death, Kimmel’s monologue shifts its focus to the importance of free speech in America, pointing out the hypocrisy of both the FCC and Trump on the subject. He condemns Trump’s continued attempts to undermine the press, and to his credit, he doesn’t take his foot off the gas when talking about Trump. Other public figures with a lot to lose might have pulled their punches against the administration after being taken off the air, but there’s none of that here. He also likens the FCC’s use of threats and intimidation to mafia behavior, going so far as to tag in Robert De Niro for a skit in which the actor puts on his best mob boss persona to play a new FCC chairman. The whole thing’s worth a watch.
So how did Trump respond to this? Exactly how you’d expect. The president posted an unhinged rant on his Truth social account claiming that “ABC Fake News” told the White House that Jimmy Kimmel Live! Had been “cancelled.” He also says the late-night show was “another arm of the DNC” and that would be a “major illegal Campaign Contribution” to…well, he doesn’t specify. But what he does do is gesture at suing ABC for…something? He references the 2024 defamation lawsuit in which ABC paid $15 million to Trump’s presidential library fund, so he seems to think he can get more money from the company for…putting Kimmel back on the air?
While Kimmel is back on the air in most of the country, several cities were unable to watch the show live due to some affiliate stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group preempting the show and replacing it with news. Some affected cities included Washington D.C., Nashville, New Orleans, Portland, and Salt Lake City. Those groups can’t stop people from going to YouTube, however, where the monologue has already racked up 9.1 million views since being posted last night.
