Jimmy Kimmel has returned to social media for the first time since his late night show was taken off the air under controversial circumstances.
The host, 57, posted a photograph of himself with the late television writer Norman Lear, captioning the image: “Missing this guy today.”
The Instagram post serves as a tribute to the All In The Family creator, who died in December 2023 at the age of 101.
It could also be seen as a pointed message to Kimmel’s critics. Lear was an outspoken liberal activist who vocally defended the First Amendment, which enshrines the right to freedom of speech. He founded the progressive advocacy organization People for the American Way.
Lear was also a noted critic of the Federal Communications Committee (FCC). In 1976, Lear brought a successful lawsuit against the FCC after they decreed that all programming aired between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. should be considered “family viewing.” A California District court found that the policy violated the First Amendment.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is set to return to ABC tonight for the first time after it was suspended “indefinitely” by the network last week following pressure from the FCC.
Before the announcement of Kimmel’s suspension, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr had criticized ABC and its parent company, Disney, for what he said were violations tied to Kimmel’s monologue regarding Charlie Kirk’s killer.
"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” he said.
The comment that got Kimmel in hot water featured in an episode on Monday, September 14, when he said: “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
Kimmel was subsequently taken off air, sparking a massive debate over free speech, with celebrities, politicians, and several current and former late-night talk show hosts voicing their outrage.
As the days passed with no resolution from ABC or Kimmel, the backlash against the network continued to mount. Protests erupted outside of Kimmel’s Hollywood studio, with Disney actors turning to social media, urging followers to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions and boycott the company entirely.
By Monday afternoon — hours before Kimmel’s return to air was announced — over 400 celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston and Meryl Streep — had signed an open letter denouncing ABC’s decision to take the late-night host off the air.
Then, in a statement Monday, Disney said: “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.
“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.”
The late night talk show will remain unavailable on some local networks as Nexstar Media and Sinclair Inc are continuing to boycott it.
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