“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned with a bang on Tuesday night.
After a near week-long suspension, Jimmy Kimmel’s eponymous late-night talk show scored 6.26 Million total viewers in its first episode back on the air. This feat was achieved despite its unavailability across 23% of US TV households as Nexstar and Sinclair preempted the show across its ABC-affiliated markets.
In the key 18-49 demographic, the show earned a 0.87 rating, marking the show’s highest regularly scheduled episode since March 2015.
While these initial numbers don’t include streaming ratings, the monologue has since garnered more than 26 million views across YouTube and social platforms.
Prior to his suspension, Kimmel’s show was struggling as ratings had dropped to 1.1 million total viewers in August 2025, down 43% from January’s 1.95 million.
The late-night show was pulled “indefinitely” by Disney’s ABC last Wednesday after Kimmel made comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death.
Kimmel opened his show on Tuesday night with a tearful address for his fans — but the comedian made no apologies for his previous comments.
“I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” the 57-year-old said as his voice broke. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make,” he continued, emphasizing that he also sent his condolences to Kirk’s widow, Erika, via social media after his assassination.
“But I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear, 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 chance I’d have felt the same way.”
Kimmel also addressed President Donald Trump’s jabs that he had “no talent” and “no ratings,” quipping, “Well, I do tonight!”
In his Sept. 15 monologue addressing Kirk’s death, the comedian joked that the “MAGA gang” was attempting to portray Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, as “anything other than one of them” and using the conservative activist’s death to promote their political agenda.
Kimmel’s remarks prompted a swift response from the FCC and Nexstar Media, a media conglomerate that owns a number of ABC-affiliated markets. The latter organization quickly vowed to preempt Kimmel’s show from its markets.
After an uproarious outcry from Kimmel’s fans and other celebrities, the network announced the return of Kimmel’s show on Monday following some “thoughtful conversations” between the parties.
“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,” the company explained in the statement.
“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.”
However, as we previously reported, sources exclusively told Page Six that Kimmel’s suspension had more to do with Disney CEO Bob Iger trying to create a bigger legacy for himself.
“[Iger] may come across as this slick Hollywood Mr. Nice Guy, but he’s no bulls–t. He’s all about business,” one ABC insider told us.
“[Iger] is in no danger of not being rich, but if he loses the FCC and ABC suffers financially, then he suffers,” another source speculated. “He wants to be a visionary like Walt Disney,” they added, suggesting a fallout with the FCC would have a fatal blow to his Disney legacy.
The first source went on to explain that ABC’s decision to bring Kimmel’s show back was “the perfect compromise.”