Stephen Colbert Reacts to ‘Wonderful News’ of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Returning Following Suspension

Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late-night television has sparked reactions from his peers, including Stephen Colbert.

On the Sept. 22 edition of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — which ended in July after a 10-season run — Colbert reflected on the news that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be back on air after a short suspension.

“We do, like, 160 of these a year or something, and when I have the chance, it’s always nice to start the show with some good news,” Colbert told his audience. “Well, just a few hours before we taped this broadcast, we got word that our long national late-nightmare is over, because Disney announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to air on ABC tomorrow, Tuesday night. Come on! Wonderful news for my dear friend Jimmy and his amazing staff.”

The show had been pulled from ABC’s schedule on Sept. 17, just days after Kimmel made remarks about the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Disney explained in a Sept. 22 statement that it suspended production “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,” the company said. “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.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live! resumes on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Colbert had previously criticized ABC’s move, calling it “blatant censorship” during his Sept. 18 taping, according to CNBC. “I’ll say this for my network. They wouldn’t have done this. Now regardless of what you think, that has already been done and how that looks, this is weak. This is blatant censorship,” he said, per the New York Post.

When the hiatus was first announced, an ABC spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE that the show would be off the air “indefinitely.” That decision followed Kimmel’s Sept. 15 broadcast, where he commented: “The MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

Kimmel also shared condolences on social media, writing: “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? 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.”

His suspension coincided with Nexstar Media, the nation’s largest local broadcast and digital media company, announcing plans to acquire rival broadcaster Tegna for $6.2 billion. The move would give Nexstar reach into 80% of U.S. TV households — pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission, now under President Donald Trump’s leadership.

Nexstar stated it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”

FCC Chair Brendan Carr also praised Nexstar for its stance, writing on X that “it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”

President Trump weighed in as well, framing the hiatus as a firing. On Truth Social, he wrote: “Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great man named Charlie Kirk. Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.” He added: “You can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”

Meanwhile, support for Kimmel grew in Hollywood. More than 400 celebrities signed an open letter published by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), defending his right to free expression. Signatories included Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short, Meryl Streep and Kerry Washington.