Jimmy Kimmel returns as ABC ends suspension after political controversy

Jimmy Kimmel is returning.

ABC announced on Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would be back on the air on Tuesday, ending a standoff that started last week.

The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement, “Last Wednesday, we decided to stop production on the show so as not to make things worse at a very emotional time for our country.”

“We made this choice because we thought some comments were hurtful and made at the wrong time,” the statement said. “Over the last few days, we’ve had some deep conversations with Jimmy. After those talks, we decided to bring back the show on Tuesday.”

Some ABC stations would rather not show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week, and Disney didn’t say if all of them would agree to do so on Tuesday.

Last week, the network fired Mr. Kimmel “indefinitely” after a top Trump regulator and many conservatives said he provided false information about the political views of the man accused of killing right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

The later suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” turned into a major issue for free speech in the United States almost right away.

Following Brendan Carr’s statement on a podcast that Mr. Kimmel’s comments were part of a “concerted effort to lie to the American people,” ABC pulled the show just hours later. Mr. Carr also said that the agency was “going to have remedies that we can look at.”

“To be honest, when I see things like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Mr. Carr told Benny Johnson, the host of the show.

During his opening monologue for Wednesday’s show of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Mr. Kimmel had planned to talk about the growing controversy. Top Disney officials, including CEO Robert A. Iger and head of television Dana Walden, decided not to air Mr. Kimmel or his show after reviewing his planned remarks, believing that his monologue would make things worse.

At the time, Disney didn’t say why it made the choice, and Mr. Kimmel hasn’t said anything about the show’s suspension either.

At least two people with knowledge of the situation spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss secret talks between Disney and Mr. Kimmel to bring back his show. The talks started on Thursday. The meeting took place at Mr. Kimmel’s lawyer’s office in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles. Mr. Iger, Ms. Walden, and Rob Mills, the ABC official directly in charge of the show, attended the meeting. James Dixon, Mr. Kimmel’s boss, joined the meeting through a video call.

At the end of the session, Mr. Kimmel did not agree to make any changes to the monologue he had planned to give on Wednesday. In it, he wanted to explain what he had said earlier and hit back at people on the right who he thought had misrepresented those comments.

Two people who were there said that Mr. Iger and Ms. Walden kept talking to Mr. Kimmel over the weekend. On Monday morning, everyone agreed on when to bring back the show and what Mr. Kimmel would say when he did.

A representative for Mr. Kimmel did not answer when asked for a statement.

It’s still not clear if Nexstar and Sinclair, two big TV companies that own many ABC affiliates and have promised to skip “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after what he said, will play more episodes of the show.

When asked for comment, Nexstar and Sinclair representatives did not reply right away.

The trouble began last Monday when Mr. Kimmel stated in his opening monologue that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Right-wingers jumped on the comments, saying they were inaccurate about Tyler Robinson’s political views. Robinson is suspected of shooting the police officer. Prosecutors say that Mr. Robinson did not agree with Mr. Kirk’s “hatred,” but they have not said which of Mr. Kirk’s ideas Mr. Robinson did not agree with. The mother of Mr. Robinson said that her son had recently changed his political views and become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”

In the days after ABC’s move, at least five Hollywood unions spoke out against the company in public, speaking for more than 400,000 workers.