By Adam Chitwood

Copyright thewrap

What a difference a weekend makes.

Pressure grew over the last few days for Disney to lift its pause on late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who was pulled from the airwaves after comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer inflamed conservative commentators and drew the ire of Donald Trump’s FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who threatened Disney it could “do this the easy way or the hard way.”

But two Disney insiders insist the company’s decision, announced Monday afternoon, to bring Kimmel back wasn’t influenced by growing Disney+ boycotts, the FCC, affiliates or the open letter signed by 400 celebrities – including Tom Hanks, who played Walt Disney in “Saving Mr. Banks.”

It was, they told TheWrap, guided by “what’s the right thing to do.”

There was a palpable sense of relief inside Disney when the decision was made to resume the show, but the company is in the dark on what he plans to say on Tuesday’s show beyond the fact that he will address his suspension – and the reaction to it.

The insiders told TheWrap that the reaction from affiliates was “not a factor” in Disney’s decision to bring Kimmel back.

Conversations between Kimmel, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden continued over the weekend to find a meaningful way to bring “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back on the air as tensions continued to boil, with President Trump and many on the right celebrating and incorrectly stating that Kimmel had been fired while those on the left took aim at Disney and Iger for the decision to pull Kimmel in the first place.

The conversations between Kimmel and Disney continued Monday, when the decision was made to put the host back on the air starting Tuesday.

“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,” Disney said in a statement. “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.”

Previously, Sinclair and Nextstar had refused to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on their affiliate stations due to his comments about Kirk’s alleged killer. As a condition of putting Kimmel back on the airwaves, Sinclair demanded an apology and a donation to Kirk’s Turning Point USA.

Carr, meanwhile, tried to walk back his comments that spurred the affiliate reaction and Kimmel’s suspension in the first place, stating on Monday morning that the FCC “expressed no view” on the merits of complaints about Kimmel and that the FCC is trying to empower local TV stations to serve the needs of their local communities.

Representatives for the FCC, the White House, Nexstar and Sinclair did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.