Jimmy Kimmel Will Return to the Air Following Backlash, Boycott Sara Levine September 23, 2025 at 5:34 AM 0 Jimmy Kimmel Will Return to the Air Following Backlash, Boycott After days of backlash and threats of a boycott, ABC has lifted Jimmy Kimmel's suspension.
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Sara Levine September 23, 2025 at 5:34 AM
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Jimmy Kimmel Will Return to the Air Following Backlash, Boycott
After days of backlash and threats of a boycott, ABC has lifted Jimmy Kimmel's suspension. The late-night host's show was pulled from the air on Sept. 17 after FCC Chair Brendan Carr took issue with certain comments the comedian made about Charlie Kirk's assassination. The news sent shockwaves throughout the entertainment industry and the country, as concerns mounted that the Trump administration was attempting to curb Kimmel's free speech — and even conservatives like Ted Cruz and Candace Owens disapproved of the move.
On Monday, more than 400 celebrities signed an open letter "in solidarity" with Kimmel. The letter, published by the ACLU, called Kimmel's removal from the air "a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation." Among the star-studded signees were Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise, and Robert De Niro.
Howard Stern on Jimmy Kimmel's firing
Also on Monday, Howard Stern, a longtime friend of the comedian, spoke out about ABC's decision on the Sept. 22 episode of his radio show. Stern said he was "so upset" by the news, calling the move "horrible" and "outrageous."
"When the government says, 'I'm not pleased with you, so we're going to orchestrate a way to silence you,' it's the wrong direction for our country," the radio host said. "It isn't good."
"If ABC wanted to fire Jimmy because they didn't like him, or he had low ratings — they didn't want to fire him," he added. "They're being pressured by the United States government. We can't have that, not if we're going to have a democracy." He revealed plans to cancel his Disney+ subscription to protest ABC, and his cohost Robin Quivers said she intended to do the same.
How many people canceled Disney+ and Hulu?
Stern wasn't the only one to announce he'd cancel his streaming services to protest ABC — people across social media posted about ending their Disney+ or Hulu subscriptions, as a way to take a stand against the network's treatment of Kimmel.
Disney+ canceled #CancelDisney #Disney #DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/jW7fnJ6zRD
— Franko
(@franknoc) September 18, 2025
There aren't reliable published numbers on how many subscribers canceled Disney+ or ABC account, but some social media users reported that the webpage where users could cancel their Disney+ crashed in the few days after the announcement.
Jimmy Kimmel returns to late night
On Monday afternoon, ABC announced it had reversed course, and said Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return to the air on Tuesday.
"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 Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement.
"It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive," the statement said. "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."
Last week, outlets including Newsweek reported that Sinclair, which owns a number of ABC affiliates, would not lift the suspension unless the comedian issued "a direct apology" to Kirk's family and made a "meaningful personal donation" to TurningPoint USA. It's not yet clear whether Kimmel met those demands, although sources told Deadline that "Kimmel made it clear he was unwilling to apologize for his remarks." Kimmel will address the whole situation on air on Tuesday.
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