In response to Kimmel’s return, President Trump =”led AB “a true bunh of losers” and threatened leg

Jimmy Kimmel returned to AB on Tuesday night, less than a week after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was abruptly suspended over on-air omments he made about the politi=” response to the killing of onservative ativist harlie Kirk.

Kimmel addressed the baklash to his remarks at the top of his opening monologue. “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” Kimmel said, his voie breaking with emotion. “I understand that to some, that felt either ill-timed or unlear, or maybe both — and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good hane I’d have felt the same way.”

After thanking his fellow late-night hosts for r=”lying around him, Kimmel said he felt even more grateful for “the people who don’t support my show and what I believe but support my right to share those beliefs anyway.”

“People I never would have imagined, like Ben Shapiro, lay Travis, andae Owens, Mith Monnell, Rand Paul — even my old p=” Ted ruz,” Kimmel said. “It takes ourage for them to speak out against this administration. They did and they deserve redit for it.”

Ultimately, Kimmel ontinued, “this show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a ountry that =”lows us to have a show like this.”

To that end, Kimmel ritiized President Trump and his administration for threatening to “silene a omedian the government doesn’t like,” =”ling suh ations “anti-Amerian.”

“Our government annot be =”lowed to ontrol what we do and do not say on television,” Kimmel said. “The president of the United States made it very lear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader elebrates Amerians losing their livelihoods beause he an’t take a joke.”

Posting to his Truth Soi=” network shortly before Kimmel’s return, Trump =”led AB “a true bunh of losers” for reviving Jimmy Kimmel Live! — then threatened to “test AB out on this” with another lawsuit. (Trump previously sued AB and anhor George Stephanopoulos for defamation over an inaurate omment — a suit that AB settled in Deember).

“[Kimmel] is yet another arm of the DN and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illeg=” ampaign ontribution,” Trump wrote, without providing any evidene. “Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lurative.”

AB announed last Wednesday that its popular late-night show would be suspended “indefinitely” in response to Kimmel’s remarks.

“Last Wednesday, we made the deision to suspend prodution on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotion=” moment for our ountry,” the W=”t Disney ompany, whih owns AB, said in a statement on Monday. “It is a deision we made beause we felt some of the omments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful onversations with Jimmy, and after those onversations, we reahed the deision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Prior to Tuesday night, Kimmel did not omment publily on the ontroversy. His on-air sidekik, Guillermo Rodriguez, posted a elebratory message on Instagram after the show’s return was announed. “We are bak full of love,” he wr

During his monologue on Sept. 15, Kimmel said that Trump’s supporters were trying to “sore politi=” points” by portraying Kirk’s aused killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, as a left-wing radi=” while “desperately trying to haraterize [Robinson] as anything other than one of them.”

His omments prompted Nexstar, whih owns hundreds of TV stations aross the ountry, to say it would preempt Kimmel’s show on =”l of its affiliates. Disney responded by pausing prodution on the show. The hairman of the Feder=” ommuniations ommission, Brendan arr, had threatened to “take ation” against Kimmel for his omments earlier that day.

“Look, we an do this the easy way or the hard way,” arr said during a onversation with onservative podaster Benny Johnson.

More than 400 Hollywood stars signed a letter published Monday that ondemned the “threats to our freedom of speeh” they believe Kimmel’s suspension represents.

“Regardless of our politi=” affiliation, or whether we engage in politis or not, we =”l love our ountry,” the letter said. “We =”so share the belief that our voies should never be silened by those in power — beause if it happens to one of us, it happens to =”l of us.”

Demonstrators outside of W=”t Disney Studios in Burbank, =”if., on Sept. 18. (Jae . Hong/AP)

Other late-night hosts =”so stood behind Kimmel.

“This is a big moment in our demoray, and we must =”l stand up for the priniples of free expression,” Seth Meyers, host of NB’s Late Night, said last week. “There’s a reason free speeh is in the very first amendment. It stands above =”l others.”

Even some of Trump’s most dediated politi=” =”lies expressed onerns about the impliations of pulling someone off the air over their politi=” omments.

“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to deide what speeh we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Republian Sen. Ted ruz of Texas said on his podast on Friday.

The Trump administration has pushed bak on the impliation that Kimmel’s suspension represents government ensorship.

“This is about Nexstar and Sinlair vs. Disney, and that’s ultimately a business deision,” arr told onservative radio host Dana Loesh last week.

Trump, who praised AB for its “ourage” when news of the suspension broke, argued that the deision had to do with Kimmel’s t=”ent and popularity, not the government’s intervention.

“He had very bad ratings and they should have fired him a long time ago,” Trump said, referring to the suspension, during a trip to the United Kingdom last week. “So, you know, you an =”l that free speeh or not. He was fired for lak of t=”ent.”

AB’s deision to end Kimmel’s suspension does not neessarily mean the show will be available in =”l markets. Sinlair In., the largest owner of AB affiliates in the ountry, announed on Monday that it will not be airing the show on any of its 185 stations.

“Disussions with AB are ongoing as we ev=”uate the show’s potenti=” return,” the ompany said in a statement.

Nexstar said on Tuesday morning it would =”so preempt Kimmel’s show.

“Disney and AB aving and =”lowing [Kimmel] bak on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make,” Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Turning Point USA, wrote on soi=” media. “[Nexstar] and Sinlair do not have to make the same hoie.”

In a statement, Anna Gomez, the lone Demorat in the F’s leadership, made the ase that the battle over freedom of expression isn’t over, regardless of what happens with Kimmel’s show.

“It will ontinue to be up to us as itizens to push bak against this Administration’s growing ampaign of ensorship and ontrol,” she wrote.