cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/22300167

The ABC late-night host is returning to broadcast on Tuesday following a brief-but-monumental suspension that sparked a national debate over the Trump Administration’s pressure tactics and the modern limits and consequences of free speech.

“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,” ABC parent The Walt Disney Company said in a statement Monday. “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.”

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Behind the scenes, sources says Kimmel wasn’t planning to apologize on that night’s show and instead was going to defend his original comments as being taken out of context and “grossly mischaracterized” by MAGA, which Disney brass thought would only inflame the situation. Disney/ABC then announced Jimmy Kimmel Live! was “suspended indefinitely.” On Thursday, a follow-up meeting between Kimmel and Disney execs reportedly ended in a stalemate with Kimmel sticking to his stated plan of unapologetically defending himself.

Despite Kimmel’s return, it is not immediately clear if his show will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel’s show on its stations until the late night host apologized for his comments, met with Sinclair representatives, and made a donation to Turning Point, the organization that Kirk founded. Sinclair, it should be noted, owns the ABC station in the Washington D.C. metro area, among other markets.

Nexstar, similarly, could also choose to continue to preempt the show, though of course it wiould still be accessible online across the country after it runs on ABC.