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Disney said in a statement Monday that "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will return to its ABC broadcast on Tuesday.
The decision came nearly a week after ABC said it was suspending the late night show indefinitely, shortly after the host made comments linking the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump's MAGA movement.
"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. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive," according to a statement from Disney. "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."
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr had suggested ABC's broadcast license was at risk in light of the comments, telling CNBC "we're not done yet" with changes to the media landscape.
The suspension drew comparisons to CBS's cancellation of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" in July and raised questions about the protection of free speech in a Trump-era broadcast environment.
Trump's scrutiny of media companies has intensified during his second term marked by high-profile defamation lawsuits, the defunding of public broadcasters and regulatory interference from the FCC. He's particularly singled out ABC and NBC for what he called "unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives."
Current and former late show hosts including Colbert and David Letterman rallied behind Kimmel after the suspension and said the president's influence amounted to censorship. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner blasted the FCC's "intimidation" of ABC.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast's planned spinoff of Versant.
