Jimmy Kimmel returns to his late-night show after ABC lifts suspension

NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television Tuesday after a nearly weeklong suspension that triggered a national discussion about freedom of speech and President Donald Trump’s ability to police the words of journalists, commentators and even comics.

ABC, which suspended Kimmel’s show last Wednesday following criticism of his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, announced Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return after the network had “thoughtful conversations” with the host.

An audience member, Walter Bates, said in an interview after the taping that Kimmel “made sure that everybody knew that he was not ... making fun of the tragedy of Charlie Kirk’s murder.” Bates said he wouldn’t call it an apology, “but that message was very, very clear.”

Bates said Kimmel also praised Kirk’s wife for showing Christian values in forgiving her husband’s killer. “It was a very moving moment,” he said. “I got very emotional and so did my wife.”

Then he went back to hitting the administration,” he said.

Kimmel’s viewership was more limited than usual. Two companies that owned ABC affiliates said they would not put Kimmel’s show on, leaving audiences in such cities as St. Louis, Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia to watch something else. The Sinclair and Nexstar corporations collectively control about a quarter of ABC affiliates.

“Our long national late nightmare is over,” Stephen Colbert joked on his CBS show in response to Kimmel’s reinstatement.

Kimmel, who has been publicly silent since his suspension, posted Tuesday on his Instagram account a picture of himself with the late television producer and free speech advocate Norman Lear. “Missing this guy today,” he wrote.

ABC suspended Kimmel “indefinitely” after comments he made in a monologue last week. Kimmel, who has been a relentless Trump critic in his comedy, suggested that many Trump supporters were trying to capitalize on Kirk’s death and were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”