Jimmy Kimmel is heading back to late-night television after a brief suspension of his show.
ABC confirmed that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return on September 23, just six days after the network announced it was pulling the program indefinitely.
The pause followed comments Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s death during his September 15 monologue.
“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,” ABC said in a statement to NBC News on September 22.
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
The network explained that it held discussions with Kimmel before deciding to bring him back.
“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,” the statement read.
The controversy began after Kimmel addressed the circumstances surrounding Kirk’s killing.
“The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” he said during his monologue, “and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Authorities said Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with aggravated murder after turning himself in on September 12.
He is accused of killing Kirk, 31, during a September 10 event at Utah Valley University. Investigators later released messages allegedly sent by Robinson in which he wrote that he targeted Kirk after he had “had enough of his hatred.”
Before the suspension, FCC chair Brendan Carr condemned Kimmel’s remarks, calling them “the sickest conduct possible” and suggesting the agency could consider action against ABC and Disney.
Nexstar Media Group, which owns more than 200 TV stations across the country, also announced it would stop airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning September 17. ABC pulled the program later that day.
Days earlier, Kimmel had shared a statement on Instagram addressing Kirk’s death.
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing,” he wrote on September 10, “can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?”
The comedian also offered condolences to Kirk’s family, including his wife Erika Kirk and their two children.
“On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence,” he wrote.