Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves on Tuesday evening after his late-night show was preempted for nearly a week.
In a more than 15-minute monologue at the top of the show, Kimmel gave an impassioned defense of free speech, needled the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and President Donald Trump and explained his comments about the response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
"It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man," Kimmel said, his voice choking up with emotion. "I don't think there's anything funny about it."
Nor, he said, was it his intention to blame any specific group, saying he understood that, to some, that's what it sounded like.
Kimmel criticized statements from FCC chairman Brendan Carr, calling them efforts at "un-American" censorship and thanked his supporters, fellow late-night comics and even conservatives, such as Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz, for speaking out.
"This show is not important," Kimmel said. "What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this."
He closed his monologue on another emotional note, referring to the remarks made by Erika Kirk at her late husband's memorial service on Sunday, in which she said she forgave his suspected killer.
"It touched me deeply," Kimmel said, adding, "And if there's anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that -- and not this."
The Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ABC, announced the return of the late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with a statement on Monday, saying they had engaged in "thoughtful conversations" with Kimmel during the break.
"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," Disney said in a statement. "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."
Before Tuesday's show aired, President Donald Trump criticized Kimmel and ABC.
"I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back," Trump posted on his social media platform.
"Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny,” he added.
ABC previously announced on Sept. 17 that Kimmel's show would be preempted "indefinitely" after comments Kimmel made last week regarding the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Before the network's decision was announced last week, Carr suggested that Kimmel should be suspended over the comments.
“There's calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think, you know, you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this and again, you know, the FCC is going to have remedies that we could look at," Carr said on a podcast with conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
Unions that represent entertainment professionals and TV writers condemned the move.
Nexstar and Sinclair broadcast groups both released statements this week announcing their intention to continue to preempt "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on the companies' ABC affiliate stations.
"Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show's potential return," read a statement from Sinclair.
Nexstar stated, "We made a decision last week to preempt 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel's 'ill-timed and insensitive' comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve."
"In the meantime, we note that "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets," Nexstar added.
"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" can also be viewed on a variety of streamers including Hulu + Live TV. Full episodes of the show are available for streaming the next day on Hulu and Disney+, and clips of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” are posted to the show's YouTube page.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News.