Jimmy Kimmel managed to triple his viewership during his late night return following his dubious suspension.
A reported 6.26 million viewers tuned in to Jimmy Kimmel Live! during the Tuesday, September 23, broadcast, per a Wednesday, September 24, ABC press release. Kimmel, 57, also performed higher than normal in the 18 to 49 age demographic, helping the episode earn its “highest regularly scheduled episode in over 10 years.”
The number is significantly high, especially when considering major media groups Sinclair and Nexstar did not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their respective channels. Sinclair and Nexstar announced ahead of Kimmel coming back that they were going to continue to preempt the show.
Sinclair and Nexstar are two of the largest media companies that own and operate local TV stations across the United States. According to the press release, the viewership data performed well “despite significant preemptions across 23 percent of U.S. TV households.”
The data comes from just television viewership alone, and does not account for streaming.
This isn’t the only accomplishment Kimmel has earned since his return. His monologue broke his previous YouTube record, earning more than 25 million views at the time of publication. (His previous record was for his monologue where he emotionally revealed his son Billy’s heart disease eight years ago.)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken off the air last week, following comments the host made about 22-year-old suspected of killing conservative influencer Charlie Kirk and President Donald Trump’s public response to his death. ABC abruptly pulled the show from the air after the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, issued what many perceived to be a veiled threat against the network
“There’s calls for Kimmel to be fired,” Carr said on Benny Johnson’s YouTube show on September 17. “I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this. … Frankly, when we see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The decision sparked outrage amongst fans and celebrities, including more than 400+ Hollywood A-listers who signed an open letter in support of Kimmel on Monday, September 22, denouncing the network’s decision and calling on Disney, ABC’s parent company, to bring back Kimmel’s show.
Later that same day, ABC announced that it was bringing the show back the following day.
“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,” Disney said in a statement. “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.”
That same day, Sinclair and Nexstar announced they would continue to preempt Kimmel.
During his highly anticipated return, Kimmel did not hold back on his criticism of the Trump administration while thanking everyone for their support.
“If you’re just joining us, we’re preempting your regularly scheduled programming of Celebrity Family Feud to bring you this special report,” he joked, referring to what aired in his time slot during his suspension. “I’m happy to be here tonight with you. I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours: me or the CEO of Tylenol. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days. I’ve heard from all the people in the last six days. Everyone I have ever known has reached out 10 or 11 times. Characters from my past, the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle — where we are not airing tonight, by the way — his name is Larry.”
Kimmel also clarified his comments regarding Kirk’s death.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about what I need to do and say tonight, and the truth is, I don’t think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference,” he said while holding back tears. “If you like me, you like me, if you don’t, I have no illusions of changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human: 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.”
Kimmel continued, “I posted a message on Instagram on the day [Charlie] was killed sending my love to his family asking for compassion, and I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was a deeply disturbed individual. That was actually the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both.”
