In his first opening monologue since his shock suspension, Jimmy Kimmel expressed it wasn’t his intent to make light of Charlie Kirk‘s death, touched on the US’ freedom of speech and took aim at President Donald Trump.
ICYMI, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) sent shockwaves across the globe after it announced it was “indefinitely” suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! following the host’s comments on the death of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk.
Following ABC’s decision (which is owned by Disney), US President Donald Trump and other MAGA heads praised the network for shelving the show. While fellow late-night hosts, celebrities and other politicians slammed the network for pulling the plug on Kimmel.
After a week of outrage and fears surrounding America’s freedom of speech and censorship, ABC and Disney announced the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Returning to the desk with a standing ovation and a “Jimmy” chant, the beloved late-night host took the opportunity to address the controversy surrounding his shock axing in his first monologue back.
“I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol,” Kimmel cracked as the audience erupted in laughter.
Jimmy Kimmel's full monologue tonight pic.twitter.com/sZI6uouUAd
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) September 24, 2025
Kicking off his return, Kimmel thanked everyone for their support over the last week, including his fellow late-night hosts.
“I do especially want to mention are my fellow late-night talk show hosts. My friend Stephen Colbert found himself in this predicament,” he said.
“My friends Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Callan, John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, James Corden, Arsenio, Kathy Wanda, Chelsea, and even Jay reached out.”
Kimmel also revealed that late-night hosts from other countries reached out, joking that someone in Germany offered him a job.
Kimmel thanks opponents who supported his right to free speech
The host went on to thank hosts who opposed him — naming opponents like Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz — who supported his right to free speech.
During the monologue, Kimmel played a snippet of Cruz saying, “If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’, that will end up bad for conservatives”.
“I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right,” Kimmel said.
“Even though I don’t agree with many of those people on most subjects, some of the things they say even make me want to throw up. It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration, and they did.
“They deserve credit for it, and thanks for telling your followers that our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television, and that we have to stand up to it.”
Kimmel gets emotional, stating it wasn’t his intent to make light of Charlie Kirk’s death
In the midst of the monologue, Kimmel fought back tears, explaining that he wasn’t trying to make fun of Kirk’s death during his last monologue.
“I do want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human, and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said.
“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it. I still do.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some, that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both.”
Kimmel went on to say that he understands why people are hurt by his monologue and that if the shoe were on the other foot, he would be upset as well.
To give you a quick recap on the monologue that got Kimmel the axe, the host highlighted that Kirk’s alleged murderer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was a MAGA supporter.
“The MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterise 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 monologue, per CNN.
“In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving,” he added.
In today’s monologue, Kimmel said the alleged murder doesn’t “represent anyone”.
“This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution, and it isn’t,” Kimmel added.
Kimmel then highlighted that this show wasn’t all about him and his action, but the importance of having a platform where people can express free speech.
“This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this,” he continued.
Kimmel takes aim at Donald Trump
Elsewhere, Kimmel shared footage of Trump slamming him for having “no talent”, being a “wack job” and having “no ratings”.
“Well, I do tonight,” Kimmel joked.
“You almost have to feel sorry for him, he tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show that backfired Bigley. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this.”
Towards the end of the monologue, Kimmel made a jab at the US president once more, stating that he cannot take a joke.
“The president of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,” Kimmel continued.
“He was able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS, then he turned his sights on me, and now he’s openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows who don’t make millions of dollars.
“And I hope that if that happens, or if there’s even any hint of that happening, you will be 10 times as loud as you were this week.”
Trump reacts to Kimmel’s return
Ahead of Kimmel’s return to air, Trump took to Truth Social (the botched version of X), insinuating that he was gearing up to file a lawsuit against ABC.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” the president penned.
“The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between them, and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the network in jeopardy by playing 99 per cent positive Democrat GARBAGE.”
Towards the end of his diary entry post, Trump referenced the “$16 million dollars” he got from a defamation lawsuit against the network after comments made by journalist George Stephanopoulos, per ABC News.
In the words of Beyoncé: America has a problem.
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