Jimmy Kimmel Live! Returns After Being Pulled -What It Means for Late-Night

Days after Jimmy Kimmel’s long-running late-night program Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended on Sept. 17 due to his comments about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, ABC’s parent company, Disney, reversed course on Sept. 22, saying the show would return.

- BRIANNE TRACY

“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,” the company said. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. 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.”

Staffers expressed “relief and joy across the board” after the announcement, with one person telling People they learned the news from their executive producer. “It was short and to the point,” says the staffer, “just sharing the good news and telling us to come to work tomorrow.”

ABC had sent shock waves across the country when it revealed Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be suspended indefinitely after Nexstar Media—the largest local broadcast and digital media company in the U.S.—decided to preempt airings of the program “for the foreseeable future” because it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk.” The conservative figure was fatally shot at age 31 while holding a debate on the Utah Valley University campus on Sept. 10.