Featured Image Credit: Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images
Topics: Jimmy Kimmel, Charlie Kirk, Disney, Film and TV
Callum Jones
Topics: Jimmy Kimmel, Charlie Kirk, Disney, Film and TV
Jimmy Kimmel, who was taken off air after comments he made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's death, will return to our screens, Disney has announced.
The 57-year-old addressed conservative activist Kirk's assassination on Jimmy Kimmel Live! during the opening monologue of last Monday's (September 15) show.
Kimmel said: "We hit 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 doing everything they can to score political points from it.
"And in between the finger-pointing, there was grieving on Friday. The White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this."
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Kimmel went on to call out Donald Trump for putting his supposed grief aside to focus on the construction of the White House's controversial new $200 million state ballroom.
"Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?" Kimmel said.
Following the comments, ABC made the decision to take Jimmy Kimmel Live off air 'indefinitely', sparking heated debate among celebs and fans alike.
The decision was met with huge uproar online, and Disney has now announced Kimmel will return.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement: "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."
Hundreds of Hollywood and Broadway stars, including Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, signed a letter urging Americans to 'fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights' in the wake of Kimmel’s suspension.
“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,” the letter read
“We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power – because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”