After five days off the air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is returns on television
After the killing of the political activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, award winning TV show host Jimmy Kimmel said, “[The] MAGA gang [was] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
This sparked a controversy that eventually led chairman of the federal communications commission, Brendan Carr, to threaten several parent companies like Nexstar, which owns the television broadcast rights to 217 different stations across America, to stop broadcasting the show with others calling for him to make a public apology and donate to Kirk’s charity foundation. Gauge Morris ‘28 said, “Personally yes, [this was an attack on the first amendment] but from a business point of view, no. The business has ownership over him basically. They have control over him if they keep him or fire him so if he does something they don’t like, they have the option to fire him.”
Kai Haggmark ‘28 said, “I think [Kimmel’s leave] was really unnecessary. I feel like what he said wasn’t that crazy even though it’s the business opinion. They shouldn’t have fired him. That seems rash.”
On Sept. 22, five days after being taken off the air, The Walt Disney Company made a public announcement that they were to reinstate the late night show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in ABC’s schedule Sept. 23. The Walt Disney Company also said that they took Kimmel off air to “avoid escalating tensions” and that “[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.”
It was also rumored that the reinstitution of Kimmel’s late night was also for business reasons. Susan Campell, a media studies professor from the University of New Haven told the Reuters news agency, said, “Consumers were exercising their own first amendment rights and ending their subscriptions to the company’s streaming services.” In the first episode the show had after being placed on leave, Kimmel got emotional, tearing up. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is now back on its regular television schedule.
