The news broke on September 22 that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return to the airwaves on the following day. Now, the beloved late-night host has broken his social media silence ahead of appearing on the ABC network, following the show’s multiday preemption.
Kimmel took to his official Instagram to post a photo of himself with legendary television producer Norman Lear. The caption of the post was simple. It read, “Missing this guy today.” So far, the brief post has been “liked” by more than 50,000 people.
Disney/ABC Issued a Statement About Kimmel Returning
According to PEOPLE, Disney issued a statement regarding Kimmel’s return to his late-night show. It began, “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.”
The statement continued, “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.”
Disney and ABC decided to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on September 17 after he spoke about the killing of Charlie Kirk on the September 15 episode. At that time, the corporation stated that it was pulling the series indefinitely. This decision came after the owners of multiple local affiliates said they wouldn’t air the show.
During his suspension, Kimmel received widespread support from both celebrities and fans of the long-running series. This includes the likes of Kerry Washington, Jason Bateman, Vola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Stephen Colbert. Many fans also canceled subscriptions to Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+.
The Show Isn’t Out of the Woods Following the Suspension
As mentioned, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to its ABC timeslot on September 23. However, things aren’t back to normal for the show or its host. Sinclair, one of the owners of several ABC stations nationwide, has announced that the company will continue to preempt the show.
The company said in a statement, “Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
Notably, Sinclair owns around 30 local channels that would typically air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The nature of the “ongoing” discussions is unknown. However, Kimmel was previously asked to apologize to Kirk’s family and make a donation to Turning Point USA.
