The late night show was indefinitely suspended last Wednesday, it is believed that Disney was under pressure from Donald Trump’s chair of the Federal Communications Commission over comments Kimmel made about Maga and the shooting of Kirk.
The brief suspension of Kimmel's late night talk show sparked a major debate on free speech and the tactics of the Trump administration. Critics have suggested that Kimmel was a target as he frequently criticises US President Donald Trump on his talk show.
A week after the shooting of Kirk, Kimmel said in his opening monolgue of his show, "the MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize this kid... as anything other than one of them." He then showed a video of Mr Trump addressing the shooting of Kirk and said "This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish."
Hollywood stars such as Pedro Pascal and Jennifer Anniston signed a letter calling the decision to suspend 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.
Although it has been announced the return of Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show, Sinclair Broadcast Group stated that it would still not air the show on it's 38 ABC affiliate stations. Sinclair, which ran a tribute for Kirk in place of Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week, and is known to push conservative talking points on air, have stated that they will not allow Kimmel's show back on their station until he apologises to Kirks family, makes a “meaningful personal donation” to them and to Kirk’s right-wing activist group Turning Point USA, and met with Sinclair representatives.
Although production of Kimmels show will resume today, it remains unclear how accessible the show will be, however, as always, it will be available online after the ABC broadcast.
