“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 Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement this afternoon (via The Hollywood Reporter). “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.”
Of course, the moment that the company declines to name was the killing of conservative media figure Charlie Kirk and the ensuing fallout. Last Monday, Kimmel criticized the Republican reaction and argued they were using his death for political ends. The following day, FCC chairman Brendan Carr appeared on a podcast and urged local ABC affiliates to “push back” against Kimmel. Within hours, affiliate corporations Nexstar and Sinclair said they would not syndicate the show before ABC suspended Kimmel entirely. The move prompted backlash from much of Hollywood and from people who enjoy living in a country where you can criticize politicians without the government trying to get you fired. As of this writing, Kimmel himself still hasn’t publicly commented on the situation.
