Jimmy Kimmel Live! Draws 6.3 Million Viewers In Return, Notches Best Demo Rating In 10 Years

Maybe President Donald Trump will want to revise his statement that Jimmy Kimmel gets "no ratings." (Yeah, we know, probably not.)

Jimmy Kimmel Live!'s return to ABC on Tuesday drew 6.3 million total viewers, the network has announced, despite the fact that it wasn't available in 23% of households nationwide, with affiliate owners Nexstar and Sinclair continuing to preempt the show in protest of Kimmel's recent comments about the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

Tuesday's episode also earned a 0.87 rating in the key 18-49 demo, the best rating for a regularly scheduled episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in more than 10 years. Plus, Kimmel's monologue has racked up more than 26 million views on YouTube and social media, ABC says.

Kimmel returned after nearly a week off the air, with ABC announcing last Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be "preempted indefinitely" after Nexstar and Sinclair — which own dozens of ABC affiliates nationwide — decided not to air the show in light of Kimmel's comments. (Kimmel accused Trump's MAGA followers of "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.") ABC announced this Monday that, after "thoughtful conversations with Jimmy," the show would return the following night.

In Tuesday's monologue, Kimmel thanked everyone who supported his right to free speech, including even Republicans like Ted Cruz. He also got emotional as he made it clear that "it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man." But he hit back hard at Trump and other conservatives who gleefully tried to get his show and other late-night comedy shows cancelled: "Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he can't take a joke." Adding that "a government threat to silence a comedian the President doesn't like is anti-American," Kimmel urged viewers to 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." (Watch it in full here.)

Kimmel knew that all eyes were on him, too, as he took aim at Trump: "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."