By Joe Flint

Nearly 6.3 million people tuned in to watch Jimmy Kimmel's emotional return to the airwaves Tuesday night, nearly a week after his show was suspended over remarks he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The audience, based on preliminary numbers from Nielsen, dwarfed the regular viewership for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

The show averaged 1.8 million viewers in the second quarter of this year.

Tuesday's stronger-than-usual ratings were notable in part because "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" wasn't available on broadcast TV in more than 20% of the country Tuesday night, including Washington, D.C., Seattle, New Orleans and St. Louis.

Station owners Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, who combined own and operate more than 60 ABC affiliates around the country, aren't carrying the show. Neither Sinclair nor Nexstar have said if or when they would put Kimmel's show back on their stations.

Kimmel's monologue also drew more than 15 million views on the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" YouTube channel.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted," Kimmel started the segment, echoing a line former "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar used in 1960 when he returned after a nearly monthlong spat with NBC censors.

Kimmel choked up as he told his audience Tuesday that he didn't intend "to make light of the murder of a young man" in his show the previous week, referring to comments he made about the shooting death of Kirk. He also criticized the Trump administration for threatening comedians and the press.

Disney executives are preparing for potential retaliation by the Trump administration, a person close to the company said.

"I can't believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back," President Trump posted on Truth Social before Kimmel's show aired Tuesday. He accused Kimmel of being an arm of the Democratic National Committee, referenced past legal action against media companies and said, "Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings."

Sinclair and Nexstar told ABC last week that they were stopping carriage of Kimmel's show, after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr criticized the host for his Sept. 15 episode.

In that broadcast, Kimmel said, "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them." He also made fun of Trump's grieving, comparing it to "how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish."

Carr said on a podcast last week that the agency could take action against the broadcast licenses of local stations that carried the show.

His comments drew criticism from some conservatives, who warned that government overreach in policing speech could backfire.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 24, 2025 18:50 ET (22:50 GMT)

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