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Comedian Jimmy Kimmel gave details on the exact moment he found out his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, was suspended "indefinitely" last month during an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday (September 30) night.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster. I know you hear that a lot. It really was. It was very strange,” Kimmel said.
“It was around 3 o’clock, we tape our show at 4:30. I’m in my office typing away — as I usually do. I get a phone call. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me,” he added.
“This is unusual. As far as I knew, they didn’t even know I was doing a show previous to this. I have like five people who work in my office with me, so the only private place to go is the bathroom,” Kimmel continued. “So I got into the bathroom and I’m on the phone with the ABC executives and they say, ‘Listen, we wanna take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re going to say tonight and we’ve decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.'”
Colbert's audience booed after Kimmel said he was notified about his suspension, to which he replied, "That's what I said. I started booing." The talk show host said he told ABC executives that he didn't think pulling the show would be "a good idea" but was overruled.
Kimmel said audience members for his show were "already in their seats" when the suspension decision was made, "so then we sent the audience home." The comedian said he stayed at his studio for a couple hours after the decision was made before heading home.
“I’m followed by 20 paparazzi cars, TMZ, people jumping in front of me on the way home. We’re just trying to get to the house. … There were two helicopters flying over,” Kimmel told Colbert.
ABC announced Kimmel's return from a brief suspension on September 23, with local TV giants Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group initially refusing to air his program on their ABC local affiliates but eventually complying. Kimmel gave an impassioned defense of free speech, jabbing at President Donald Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, while explaining his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during his return to ABC airwaves from suspension.
"It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man," Kimmel said while battling tears. "I don't think there's anything funny about it."
The talk show host said he never intended to blame a specific group for the incident after receiving backlash.
"That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make," Kimmel said. "But to some, that felt ill-timed or unclear or maybe both, and 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 would have felt the same way."
"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," he added.
Kimmel also called Carr's podcast comments suggesting he should be suspended "un-American" while thanking his supporters, noting that several top conservative pundits came to his defense publicly.
"This show is not important," Kimmel said. "What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this."
Kimmel also accused the Trump administration of having "tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show, in the cities that you live in, to take my show off the air.”
"That’s not legal. That’s not American, that is un-American, and it’s so dangerous,” he said.
The Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return to the airwaves Tuesday after it was suspended "indefinitely" last week in a statement obtained by the New York Times on September 22.
“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,” ABC said. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement said. “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 was suspended after making comments about the suspect involved in Kirk's assassination last week.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said via the New York Post.
Trump, a longtime target of Kimmel's critical humor, celebrated the decision and called for similar action to be taken against NBC's Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show and Seth Meyers of Late Night.
"Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Kimmel's comments about the suspect in Kirk's assassination reportedly threatened to derail Nexstar's $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, telecom insiders told the New York Post's On The Money on September 18. The deal, which had already faced backlash for combining two of the United States' largest local television stations, is pending approval by the Carr and the FCC over possible antitrust issues.
The telecom insiders claimed Kimmel's comments reportedly factored negatively into the pending approval, which led to Nexstar's decision to pull his show, On The Money reports. Kimmel was spotted outside El Capitan Entertainment Centre in Los Angeles shortly after being notified of his ousting as seen in video footage shared by NBC 4 Los Angeles.