Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, is clapping back at Democrats as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to ABC on Tuesday night.
The Disney-owned network announced Monday that it would reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after it was indefinitely pulled from the air over “ill-timed” and “insensitive” comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. However, not all ABC-affiliated stations will broadcast the show — TV giant Sinclair said it will instead carry news programming in the time slot as “discussions with ABC are ongoing,” while Nexstar will also pre-empt the show.
“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,” The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement.
ABC initially announced the suspension of the show last Wednesday after Kimmel, during a previous monologue, criticized President Donald Trump’s MAGA base over its reaction to the killing of Kirk, who was shot on Sept. 10 while speaking during an event at Utah Valley University. Kimmel also suggested that the suspect in the shooting of the Turning Point USA co-founder — 22-year-old Tyler Robinson — might have been pro-Trump or Republican.
“The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said during the episode, which aired on Sept. 15.
Two days after his comments were televised, Carr hinted that there was a “strong case” for action, telling right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney … We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Carr is now responding to backlash he received over his remarks, which immediately turned into a flashpoint over concerns about free speech.
“On Kimmel, the Democrats are engaged in nothing more than Projection and Distortion,” Carr wrote on X on Tuesday.
“Projection because Democrats are the ones that spent years illegally weaponizing government to silence dissent. And it is Democrats that will do it all again — as they are openly telling you today. Distortion because Democrats want to blame anything other than Disney and their local TV stations for Kimmel’s suspension,” he continued.
Carr went on to say that it is the “first time recently” that local TV stations have “pushed back” on a national programmer.
“And that is a good thing because we want empowered local TV stations,” Carr added. “After all, local TV stations — not the national programmers — have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities.”
The sudden move to pull the late-night host from the airwaves had shocked the entertainment and political worlds. Four hundred celebrities signed an open letter, published by the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday, which condemned the suspension of the show and backed Kimmel.
“We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech,” the letter read. “Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists, and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country.”