NEW YORK — Jimmy Kimmel and Disney are reportedly negotiating a compromise that would allow for his talk show to return to air.
Business and legal representatives for the longtime late-night host have been in talks with the higher-ups at ABC and its parent company, Disney, with the hopes of bringing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back to TVs nationwide, Variety reported, citing three sources with knowledge on the matter.
The show was abruptly pulled off the air on Wednesday, with executives saying it would be “preempted indefinitely” over Kimmel’s remarks about the discourse triggered by the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Since then, the 11:35 p.m. slot has been filled with reruns of “Celebrity Family Feud,” and a Charlie Kirk memorial special that aired Friday.
Kirk was shot on Sept. 10 during a student Q&A at Utah Valley University as part of his American Comeback Tour. He was hit in the neck by a lone bullet during the outdoor event on the Orem, Utah, campus and was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Kirk, the co-founder of conservative organization Turning Point USA and a major ally of President Donald Trump, was 31 years old.
In wake of the deadly shooting, Trump and his conservative allies were quick to place blame on “the radical left,” while Democrats suggested the shooter’s ideologies seemed to slant more to the right.
Kimmel’s ousting was specifically prompted by comments he made during his opening monologue Monday night, suggesting that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing Kirk, appeared to align more with conservative beliefs despite the right’s efforts to condemn the left.
“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,” Kimmel said, while criticizing the president for rhetoric that only served to further divide America.
Kimmel’s comments dealt only with the political aftermath of Kirk’s murder, not the heinous act itself. In fact, right after the shootings, he posted his grief on Instagram and broadcast support to Kirk’s wife and their two young kids.
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” Kimmel wrote on the day Kirk was shot. “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.”
