Disney has announced that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will be back on air Tuesday, September 23, 2025, after being paused indefinitely. The suspension began last Wednesday following controversial comments made by Kimmel about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
According to Disney, the show was suspended “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” with those comments judged “ill-timed and thus insensitive.” After several days of talks between Disney and Jimmy Kimmel, the decision was made to resume the show on Tuesday.
While Disney is going ahead with the show’s return, not all ABC affiliate stations will immediately broadcast it. Sinclair Broadcast Group has said it will continue to pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its stations for now, even after the reinstatement. Other networks’ affiliates like Nexstar are also under pressure to respond.
The move comes amid criticism from both sides of the political spectrum over free speech, broadcast responsibility, and whether media organisations overreacted to Kimmel’s monologue. ABC’s parent company, Disney, has insisted that the decision to suspend and now to restore was driven by internal concern over the tone and timing of Kimmel’s remark, not outside political pressure—though regulation, backlash from viewers, and affiliate stations played large roles behind the scenes.
