via deadline:
Just as Jimmy Kimmel jokingly predicted, his late-night show saw quite an audience boost upon his return to ABC on Tuesday night after the network “indefinitely” preempted him last week.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! drew 6.26 million viewers on Tuesday night, per early live + same-day Nielsen data.
Consider that JKL averaged about 1.77M viewers in live + seven-day data in the second quarter of 2025, illustrating just how much the weeklong debacle over Kimmel’s comments last week about Charlie Kirk’s shooter drew national interest. The early data also doesn’t include streaming, so the total audience for Tuesday’s episode will likely increase once all is said and done.
It’s also worth noting that, given Nexstar and Sinclair are still preempting Kimmel, the episode was not available in many major markets representing about 23% of U.S. households.
Among adults 18-49, the episode earned a 0.87 rating, the highest for a regularly scheduled episode in more than 10 years.
Jimmy Kimmel, Somber but Defiant, Defends Free Speech in Return to ABC
via NYT:
Jimmy Kimmel broke his silence on Tuesday night in an emotional return to ABC’s airwaves, by turns defiant, joking and somber as he addressed the controversy that temporarily sidelined his late-night show and set off a national debate over free speech.
His voice breaking at times, Mr. Kimmel said he understood why his comments last week about the suspected shooter of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk seemed “ill-timed, or unclear, or maybe both.” He added, “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”