“Jimmy Kimmel Live” Returns Tonight
FILE PHOTO: Jimmy Kimmel arrives at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, U.S., September 12, 2022. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci/File Photo
The Celebrity Beat…
Well, that didn’t last long. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will return to the airwaves TONIGHT. ABC said in a statement that Jimmy Kimmel‘s suspension was a matter of timing.
Quote, “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. 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.”
Obviously, Jimmy is expected to address the situation when he hits the stage tonight.
Sinclair Broadcasting, one of the major station owners that threatened to boycott Kimmel, says it STILL plans to pre-empt the show. The other company, Nexstar, has yet to comment.
Both companies are exploring possible mergers that would require FCC approval… so the incentive to kiss up to the government is huge.
Meanwhile, around 400 celebrities signed an open letter by the ACLU supporting free speech and condemning Jimmy’s suspension. The names include:
Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks, Olivia Rodrigo, Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Diego Luna, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalie Portman, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Kerry Washington, Billy Crystal, Christina Applegate, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Weird Al Yankovic.
One last note: Disney released the trailer for the big-screen “Star Wars” movie, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” and the comments were flooded with people razzing Disney over Kimmel’s suspension. The movie stars Pedro Pascal, who also signed that ACLU letter.
Personally, I think the whole thing was a BIG stunt in the hunt of ratings… My theory is ABC saw that CBS saw a boost in ratings and attention due to Stephen Colbert being all done, and this was their way of milking the headlines in the aftermath of recent events, and now they’re hoping to see a jump up in the ratings because everyone will tune in to see what Kimmel will say. Will you be tuning in? I’ll catch it on YouTube tomorrow morning like most people.
SOURCE: CNBC
