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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDisney says 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' will return to ABC on Tuesday
Disney says Jimmy Kimmel Live will return to ABC on Tuesdayhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/22/disney-abc-jimmy-kimmel-return.html
The decision was announced nearly a week after ABC said it was suspending the late night show indefinitely. The network had pulled the show days after the host made comments linking the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trumps MAGA movement.
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I wonder what happened behind the scenes?

LetMyPeopleVote
(170,297 posts)CivicGrief
(203 posts)He did not link the killer to MAGA. He said MAGA was doing all they could do to ensure he was not linked to MAGA. They are the ones who made wild accusations. What a load of crap.
dlk
(12,968 posts)Money talks.
Bluetus
(1,582 posts)It looks like Disney played their poor hand pretty well. Their first move was to appear to cave to Trump. They got Trump off their back temporarily and took Kimmel off the air while the Kirk cult did their creepy ritual.
DIsney knew there would be big public pushback, which they welcomed. But they couldn't be seen as leading that chorus. So they let it build organically, and now that Kirk's corpse is in the ground, they are returning Kimmel to the air very quickly.
That still leaves Disney with the problem of Sinclair and the other RW station groups. But they have actually turned the tables on those operators a little. Does Sinclair have the guts to deny their audience the Kimmel show? We shall see.
The real question is what editorial deals Kimmel might have made with Disney. Disney gains nothing by having Trump dictate their business plan, so I bet they are mostly on the same side of the table with Kimmel. I expect Kimmel has probably agreed to move on from Kirk, but to still ridicule Trump (and educate the public). I think we will see shortly.
The other late night people have mostly shown solidarity with Kimmel. I expect their employers will also see the dangers of letting Trump dictate their programming. Heck, we might even see Colbert get a new contract after all this.
And that leaves us with Fallon, whose program consists entirely of 60 minutes of glad-handing,, fake adoration and manufactured laughter. Never even a single second of socially pertinent observation. Let's see if Fallon can be brought into the picture.