MAGA world is melting down after Disney decided to yank Jimmy Kimmel’s show out of the penalty box just six days after shelving it “indefinitely.” ABC says Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be back in its regular slot on Tuesday night, following what the company called “thoughtful conversations” with the host after his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The U-turn caps a whiplash week for Disney, first the sudden benching, then a tidal wave of backlash from Hollywood and free-speech advocates, and now a fast-tracked reinstatement. ABC originally framed the pause as an attempt to avoid “inflaming a tense situation,” but after days of pressure, and a star-studded letter signed by 400 celebrities, the network reversed course.
Kimmel’s show was put on pause for like 3 days and yet leftists will look us dead in the eyes and tell us that this was a greater attack on free speech than shooting and killing Charlie Kirk https://t.co/vJKNxp27bq
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 22, 2025
Conservatives aren’t having it. Commentator Megyn Kelly sneered that on the left, “cancellation lasts 5 nights and you’re right back under klieg lights,” while Daily Wire host Matt Walsh griped the show was “put on pause for like 3 days,” blasting what he cast as a phony free-speech martyrdom. Calls to punish Disney and pressure advertisers ricocheted across X, with right-wing accounts demanding viewers flood inboxes and cancel subscriptions.
The affiliate drama isn’t over, either. Station groups Sinclair and Nexstar, power players in ABC’s late-night reach, helped trigger last week’s shutdown. As of Monday, Sinclair signaled it still might keep Kimmel off some of its ABC stations for now, even as the network invites him back on air. Translation: Kimmel’s national footprint could be patchier than usual while corporate negotiations continue.
Must be nice to be a leftist. “Cancellation” lasts 5 nights and you’re right back under klieg lights.
On the right you’re underground.— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) September 22, 2025
Meanwhile, the free-speech fight got an extra jolt from Washington. FCC chair Brendan Carr stirred outrage with a vivid warning that ABC could do this “the easy way or the hard way,” language many read as a threat toward Disney’s broadcast licenses. Carr later insisted he wasn’t vowing to pull anything, but the message landed, fueling accusations that regulators were muscling a network over its late-night politics.
The ONLY reason @Disney is bringing @jimmykimmel back is because the American people stood up, called out the executives by name, Disney’s stock plummeted and Disney lost a lot of money.
Get it?
That’s the playbook for the next three years of Trump.YOU must be LOUDER than him.
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) September 22, 2025
On the other side of the culture war, Hollywood heavyweights rallied to Kimmel’s defense. An ACLU-published letter with hundreds of A-listers, think Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, Olivia Rodrigo and more, slammed ABC’s original decision as chilling speech. At the same time, Howard Stern turned up the heat by canceling his Disney+ subscription and urging the company to stop bowing to political pressure.
So what did Kimmel actually say? In his monologue, he blasted what he called “the MAGA gang” for trying to spin Kirk’s killing, remarks Disney later labeled “ill-timed and insensitive.” The network’s walk-back signals it isn’t apologizing for Kimmel, but it also isn’t eager to keep pouring gasoline on a national fire. Expect Tuesday’s show to address the elephant in the studio, with every punchline analyzed for subtext.
