This is Jimmy Kimmel's return: on the verge of tears and standing up to Trump

BarcelonaJimmy Kimmel returned to television this Tuesday after a week past the ABC network announced that it was suspending "indefinitely" the late show from the comedian for a comment on the death of the Trump activist Charlie Kirk, murdered on September 10. In the opening monologue of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the comedian has become so emotional that he was close to tears and has argued that his commentary on Charlie Kirk's death was never intended to make light of the Trumpist's assassination.

"My intention was never to make light of the murder of a man. I don't think there's anything funny about it. The day he was murdered, I posted a message on Instagram sending my love to his family and appealing for sympathy, and I meant it with real culpa culpa. And I still say that. It was the exact opposite of what I was trying to say, but some felt it was off-topic or unclear, or both.

Despite his conciliatory tone, Kimmel was very clear when he spoke about Donald Trump, who celebrated the cancellation of his show and called online for other comedians like Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to be fired. "The president of the United States has made it very clear that he wants me and the hundred or so employees of this show fired. The leader of the country is celebrating the fact that we Americans are going to lose our jobs and our livelihoods because he can't take a joke. In a way, has managed to kick Stephen Colbert out of CBS, he's tried it on me, and now he's publicly said he wants NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers," he stressed. Kimmel has said that if Trump succeeds, he hopes the American population "will protest ten times more than they have this week." The return to the antenna of the 'hu' complained through his social network Truth Social. "I can't believe ABC Fake News has given Jimmy Kimmel his job back. ABC told the White House that his show had been canceled! Something has happened between seeds and now because his audience has disappeared and his talent "It's never existed," he said.

During the show, Kimmel defended the right to freedom of expression and stressed that "a government that tries to silence a comedian that the president doesn't like is un-American." The host said that freedom of expression "was a right that he had always taken for granted" until his friend was kicked out of the affiliates that broadcast his show in many cities so they would stop doing so. "This is not legal. This is not American," he denounced.

Although ABC, a network owned by the Disney group, has allowed Kimmel to return, two of its main partners, the media corporations Nexstar and Sinclair, have decided not to broadcast the show. late show and replace it with other programming. Nexstar owns around 30 ABC affiliates in cities like Salt Lake City, Nashville, and New Orleans, while Sinclair operates 40 Disney Channel affiliates.

Both companies played a key role in ABC's decision to pull Kimmel's show. Following pressure from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr to make an example of the comedian, Nexstar joined in, announcing that they were pulling the show from their schedules due to a comment they considered "inappropriate and insensitive." Sinclair followed suit shortly after, stating that they would not schedule Kimmel again until the comedian apologized to Kirk's family and made a financial donation to them and the conservative organization Turning Point USA.

Both Nexstar and Sinclair need to be on good terms with the FCC, as both have been lobbying for loosened broadcast regulations. Furthermore, since before the start of the new Trump administration, Nexstar has been awaiting FCC approval for a $6 billion merger that involves the purchase of the Tegna group; a transaction that would allow it to become a supercompany with 264 stations distributed across 44 states and the District of Columbia.

Just hours before his return to television, Kimmel broke his online silence by posting a photo alongside American broadcast legend Norman Lear, creator of numerous comedies and one of the greatest defenders of the First Amendment, which protects freedom of expression in the United States. Accompanying the photo was a short but understandable message: "I miss this man today." Lear, who died in 2023 at the age of 101, filed a lawsuit against the FCC in 1976 after the agency mandated that programming aired between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. must be "family-friendly."