Our long, nationwide late-night ordeal has finally come to an end, and *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* is back on the airwaves—well, in most parts of the country. Can we all return to normalcy now, please? On Wednesday, exactly one week after his show was initially suspended, Jimmy Kimmel more or less resumed business as usual.
During his second show back, Kimmel received a thunderous ovation and a rousing "Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy!" chant reminiscent of *The Jerry Springer Show*. Kimmel kicked off the show with a few jokes about the show's preemption and another poking fun at his fellow ABC program, *The Golden Bachelor*. Then, he seamlessly slipped back into his old routine: mocking President Trump.
Kimmel excels at this, and it’s hardly a challenging feat when Trump is as active on social media as he has been since Kimmel’s suspension and subsequent reinstatement. "I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was informed by ABC that his show was canceled! Something must have changed between then and now because his audience has vanished, and his 'talent' was never there in the first place," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "Why would they want someone back who performs so poorly, who isn’t funny, and who puts the network at risk by peddling 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE? He is just another arm of the DNC, and to the best of my knowledge, that would constitute a major illegal campaign contribution. I think we’re going to put ABC to the test on this. Let’s see how this plays out. The last time I went after them, they paid me $16 million dollars. This one sounds even more profitable."
"Only Donald Trump would attempt to prove he’s not threatening ABC by, well, threatening ABC," Kimmel quipped in response.
Trump’s post concluded with, "A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad ratings."
Well, Kimmel certainly didn’t suffer from bad ratings during his Tuesday return. Even with nearly a quarter of the country blacked out due to affiliate preemptions—essentially protests and tantrums thrown by station groups and owners—*Jimmy Kimmel Live!* attracted its largest-ever audience for a regular episode in the show’s 22-year history.
"He does know bad ratings," Kimmel acknowledged of Trump, accompanied by a chyron displaying the president’s dismal approval ratings.
Later in Wednesday’s monologue, before Ethan Hawke so rudely interrupted, Kimmel lent a hand to Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters in investigating "escalator-gate," our latest controversy involving someone apparently stopping a working escalator inside the UN building just as First Lady Melania Trump and the POTUS stepped onto the moving stairway. Fortunately, disaster—in this case, perhaps a stubbed toe or an awkward step—was averted.
So, perhaps our long national nightmare is only just beginning.
Kimmel was sidelined a week ago after a monologue joke referenced MAGA Republicans scrambling to distance their politics from the ideologies of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson. Many on the right interpreted the remarks as a misclassification of Robinson’s beliefs and an indirect or direct attempt to blame Kirk’s shooting on extreme-right politics. Sponsors and some station owners retaliated after Trump and his FCC chair, Brendan Carr, voiced their displeasure, prompting Disney/ABC to temporarily shut down the late-night show amid mounting pressure.
Support for Kimmel (and for free speech) brought the show back in short order.
