Jimmy Kimmel Slams Trump's 'Anti-American' Efforts To Get Him Cancelled In First Monologue After Charlie Kirk Suspension — Watch

Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air — and he's not holding his tongue.

The late-night host returned to the airwaves on Tuesday, nearly a week after ABC suspended his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in response to a firestorm surrounding Kimmel's comments about the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. And Kimmel wasted no time addressing the controversy, coming out on stage to a loud roar of approval from the studio audience and joking, "Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted..."

After adding, "I'm not sure who had a weirder 48 hours: me, or the CEO of Tylenol," Kimmel spoke about all the people who've reached out to him in the past week, thanking his fellow late-night hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart for supporting him. He even got a job offer from a TV host in Germany: "This country has become so authoritarian, the Germans are like, 'Come here!'" He also thanked his fans "who cared enough to do something about it, to make your voices heard so that mine could be heard."

Most importantly, he said, he wanted to thank "the people who don't support my show and what I believe, but who support my right to share those beliefs anyway," referring to Republican senators like Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz who stood up for Kimmel's freedom of speech. Kimmel played a clip of Cruz saying that if the government can silence voices they don't like, "that will end up bad for conservatives." Kimmel added with a smile: "I don't think I've ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right."

Kimmel then got choked up as he tried to clarify the comments that led to his suspension: "It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don't think there's anything funny about it." He conceded that his comments were either "ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both," adding: "For those who think I did point a finger, I get why you're upset." But he wants to be clear now: "I don't think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence is a solution, and it isn't. Ever."

He struck a humble note, saying: "This show is not important. What is important is that we live in a country that allows us to have a show like this." He admitted that he took his freedom of speech for granted "until they pulled my friend Stephen [Colbert] off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That's not legal. That's not American. That is un-American." He then used FCC chairman Brendan Carr and President Donald Trump's own words against them, with them strongly advocating for freedom of speech a few years back. He also played a clip of Trump sniping that Kimmel got suspended because he has "no ratings." Kimmel flashed a smile and said: "Well, I do tonight!"

He then took direct aim at Trump, laughing that "you almost have to feel bad for him: He did his best to cancel me, but instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly." Kimmel did have to comply with one condition to return to the air, he joked, reading a statement from Disney about how to reinstate your Disney+ and Hulu subscription. He did thank his Disney bosses, too: "I've been fortunate to work at a company that has allowed me to do the show the way we want to do it for almost 23 years... even when it made them uncomfortable, which I do a lot. Every night, they've defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects I find important by allowing me to use their platform, and I am very grateful for that."

But "I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on Wednesday," he admitted, recalling the conversations they had back and forth. He credits Disney and ABC for ultimately supporting his return: "They didn't have to... I am a tiny part of the Disney corporation. They welcomed me back on the air, and I thank them for that." But that decision "puts them on risk" because of Trump's vendetta against his critics: "Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can't take a joke." Kimmel noted that Trump wants to take out other late-night hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, and "I hope that if that happens... you will be ten times as loud as you were this week. We have to speak out against this guy, because he's not stopping."

Kimmel joked that he "barely paid attention in school," but he did learn that "a government threat to silence a comedian the President doesn't like is anti-American." And he appreciates the support he got from across the political spectrum: "Maybe the silver lining from this is: We found something we can agree on." He hoped we can build on this and start fighting back against politicians who are working against our interests: "Let's stop letting these politicians tell us what they want, and tell them what we want."

He wrapped things up by sharing "a beautiful story" about Charlie Kirk's wife Erika, who forgave the man who shot her husband. "That is an example we should follow," Kimmel said tearfully. "If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was. That's it: a selfless act of grace from a grieving widow." That "touched me deeply," Kimmel noted. "If there's anything we should take from this tragedy and carry forward, I hope it can be that."

ABC announced last Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be "preempted indefinitely" after Nexstar — which owns more than two dozen ABC affiliates nationwide, including stations in Nashville, New Orleans and other, smaller markets — decided not to air the show in light of Kimmel's comments. Sinclair, another owner of multiple ABC affiliates, soon followed suit.

Kimmel spoke about Kirk's murder in his monologue last Monday on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying that "we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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." FCC chairman Brendan Carr quickly took issue with his comments, threatening to penalize the stations airing Kimmel's show if they don't "change conduct and take action."

After a few days of negotiations, ABC's parent company Disney announced in a statement that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return on Tuesday: "Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show 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. 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." Nexstar and Sinclair, however, are both continuing not to air the show on their affiliates for the time being.

Press PLAY above to watch Kimmel's monologue in full, and drop your thoughts on his return in a comment below.