IT TOOK LESS than a week of backlash to the suspension of US comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night TV show for his network’s parent company Disney to reverse course and announce his return to the air. 

The U-turn was celebrated last night by fellow late-night TV hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. 

Colbert, whose own show is set to be taken off air next year in a move many have described as censorship by his network CBS, was to the fore of welcoming Kimmel’s return to air.

“Disney folded,” Colbert told his viewers, while Stewart mocked the idea that the Trump administration had not been the driving force behind the suspension of Kimmel’s show. 

Kimmel’s show had been suspended indefinitely after he made jokes in a monologue during Monday’s show last week about President Donald Trump’s reaction to the death of Republican activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in Utah on 10 September. 

The apparent cancellation of Kimmel’s show was celebrated Trump and many members of the MAGA movement in the US, while it caused outrage among Trump’s opponents, who described it as an attack on freedom of expression and an exercise in censorship. 

There were also some conservatives in the US who came out against the suspension, including Texas Governor Ted Cruz, who compared the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) actions to that of a “Mafioso”. 

‘Thoughtful conversations’ 

Announcing the return of Kimmel’s show yesterday, network ABC said the decision had been made because of Kimmel’s comments about Kirk but that after “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy” they decided to bring the show back. 

In his show-opening monologue last Monday, Kimmel said “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid… as anything other than one of them.”

He then showed footage of Trump pivoting from a question about how he had been affected by Kirk’s death to boasting about the new ballroom he is building at the White House, prompting laughter from the studio audience.

“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish,” Kimmel said.

Two days later, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the licences of ABC affiliates that broadcast Kimmel’s show.

Nexstar – one of the country’s biggest owners of ABC affiliate stations, which is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar merger requiring FCC approval – then announced it would be removing the show from its stations.

From backlash to celebration 

Disney and ABC’s decision to U-turn on the cancellation of the show came after outraged reactions from many members of the public and some of the US entertainment industry’s biggest stars. 

An open letter condemning the move put out by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was signed by more than 400 prominent actors, directors and musicians, including Tom Hanks, Olivia Rodrigo and Pedro Pascal – the star of the Star Wars show The Mandalorian, which is made by Disney. 

“The government is threatening private companies and individuals that the President disagrees with. We can’t let this threat to our freedom of speech go unanswered,” said the letter said.

After Monday’s announcement the ACLU welcomed the news, saying: “ABC made the right call.”

The pulling of Kimmel’s show also sparked a trend of people sharing online that they had cancelled their subscriptions to Disney+ and the media giant’s other streaming platform Hulu.

The hashtags #CancelDisney and #CancelDisneyPlus were trending on social media.

Responding to the news that the show would be returning, fellow late-night TV show host Stephen Colbert was jubilant during the opening monologue on his show last night. 

He pointed to the trend of people cancelling Disney subscriptions as the reason for the company’s reversal. 

“Here’s why Disney folded,” Colbert said, “After Kimmel was suspended, Google Searches for ‘cancel Disney plus’ and ‘cancel Hulu’ spiked!

“So, Disney put Kimmel back on because you, the American people, were upset. 

“But not just people, also Ted Cruz,” he quipped.

Jon Stewart opened by congratulating all the people for “pretending” to cancel their subscriptions to Hulu, saying “that really worked”. 

“Wasn’t it interesting to try to figure out all the tentacles Disney has in your daily life?” 

He also played clips of Trump and some administration officials while making fun of the idea that the president is an advocate for “free speech”. 

With reporting from AFP