Jimmy Kimmel Was Both Defiant and Conciliatory in His Return

“As I was saying before I was interrupted …,” Jimmy Kimmel said upon his return to late night after his suspension, echoing a line delivered by The Tonight Show host Jack Paar when he returned a month after walking off his show over the censorship of a joke. To chants of “Jimmy! Jimmy!” Kimmel delivered the monologue many of us expected: defiant yet conciliatory, without ever being apologetic. Jimmy Kimmel is not the radically political figure the President paints him as, nor has he ever been.

Knowing the audience he would command, Kimmel thanked those who supported him, including people who “don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs. Our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television.” Among those he thanked were his fellow late-night hosts, his “boyhood idols” David Letterman and Howard Stern, and even some on the right who defended his free speech: Rand Paul, Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, and “even my old pal Ted Cruz.”

“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, and they deserve credit for that.”

Kimmel also acknowledged how important it is “that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet and spend time with comedians and talk-show hosts from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle East, who told me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power. Worse than prison, they know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country, and that’s something I’m embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen [Colbert] off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities you live in to take my show off the air. That’s not legal. That’s not American. That is anti-American.”

“I’m so glad we have some solidarity on that from the right and the left, from those in the middle like Joe Rogan. Maybe the silver lining is that we found one thing we can agree upon, and maybe we can find another … we do agree on many things. We agree on keeping our kids safe from guns, reproductive rights for women, Social Security, affordable healthcare, pediatric cancer research. These are all things most Americans support. Let’s stop letting these politicians tell us what they want and tell them what we want.”

He was conciliatory but not apologetic about remarks misconstrued by bad-faith actors. “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. I posted a message on Instagram 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 the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand that to some it felt ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both, and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation were reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way. I have many friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to, even though we don’t agree on politics at all. I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believes violence is the solution, and it isn’t. Ever.”

He also tearfully praised Charlie Kirk’s widow for forgiving his killer. “That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was, that’s it: a selfless act of grace and forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. If there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that.”

And then Guillermo hugged him, and he did a bit with Robert De Niro playing the Chairman of the FCC.

It was not only the monologue I expected from the same man who once tearfully pled for better healthcare after his son’s birth and surgery, but the kind of monologue his boyhood idol David Letterman would have delivered: compassionate without giving an inch.

It was also the kind of monologue that made the President look smaller in comparison to the message he posted to Truth Social an hour before the show aired: “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then 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% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”

Practically anticipating that response, Kimmel joked that he’d get high ratings for this show. “He did his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this.” He also said the President celebrated hundreds of people losing their jobs “because he can’t take a joke.”

He also conceded he was not happy Disney pulled him off the air, but appreciated that they relented and allowed him back. “I did not agree with that decision, and I told them that, and we had many conversations. I shared my point of view, they shared theirs. We talked it through. At the end, even though they didn’t have to—this is a giant company, we have short attention spans, and I am a tiny part of the Disney corporation—they welcomed me back on the air, and I thank them for that.”