Jimmy Kimmel returned last night and delivered an opening monologue that earned him several standing ovations. He even had Robert DeNiro cameo for a skit about freedom of speech. Amid the suspension fallout, Disney announced a price hike of its streaming services. Talk about poor timing...
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Timing is everything. Disney doesn’t seem to have learned that lesson.
Jimmy Kimmel got justifiably emotional as he returned to air last night, assuring his audience that it was “never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
The late-night talk-show host, who was suspended “indefinitely” after making comments about the death of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk, received several lengthy standing ovations as he kicked off Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the Disney-owned ABC network.
“If you like me, like me, if you don't, you don't. I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind,” he said, adding: “But I do want to make something clear, because it's important to me as a human and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
“This show is not important,” said Kimmel. “What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
He’s not wrong and is in the majority, as a recent The Economist / YouGov poll found 68 per cent of Americans do not think it’s acceptable for the feds to pressure broadcasters to remove shows that include speech they disagree with.
Kimmel spoke of his appreciation for the “freedom to speak”, admitting it was “something I'm embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air.”
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was axed by CBS earlier this year.
He called out the actions of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, highlighted the threats on First Amendment rights, and ironically showed a clip of Donald Trump saying the following: “If we don't have free speech, then we just don't have a free country. It's as simple as that. If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, then the rest of our rights and liberties will topple, just like dominoes, one by one, they'll go down.”
He also showed a clip of Trump on Air Force One saying that Kimmel had no ratings.
“Well, I do tonight,” retorted Kimmel – a remark which was followed by a standing ovation. Referring to Trump, he added: "He did his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show."
As for the full official ratings of last night’s show, they are currently unknown as of writing. It is worth mentioning that despite Kimmel returning to air, the late-night talk show will remain unavailable on some local networks after conservative media groups Nexstar Media and Sinclair both announced that they would continue to boycott the show.
Per the New York Times, Nexstar and Sinclair own more than 20% of local ABC affiliate stations between them.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” the company shared on social media.
Still, the episode aired and is partially available on YouTube - where it has currently garnered over 2.8 million views in the space of three hours.
Then came that all-important timing.
Actor Robert De Niro made a surprise appearance on the show in a skit mocking FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
It was appropriate, considering Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way” - a statement Republican Senator Ted Cruz said was “right out of Goodfellas.”
“Pardon me for saying so, and maybe you're the wrong guy to talk to, but it seems like the FCC is using mob tactics to suppress free speech,” Kimmel told De Niro – who was playing the role of a new FCC Chairman.
De Niro responded: “ What the f*ck did you say to me?”
The Oscar-winning actor continued with a profanity-laced rant, in which he talked about free speech: "Speech... it ain't free no more. (...) Depends on what you want to say. Like if you want to say something nice about the president’s beautiful, thick, yellow hair or how he can do his makeup better than any broad, that’s free. But if you want to do a joke like he’s so fat he needs two seats on the Epstein jet, that’s gonna cost you.”
Perfect timing.
Less perfect timing was Disney announcing that the cost of some of its various streaming service bundles will be increasing.
Indeed, according to the Disney+ website, as of 21 October, the price of packages that include Disney+, Hulu and ESPN will be going up from $9.99 to $11.99 per month, while the Disney+ Premium is rising from $15.99 to $18.99 per month.
Considering the controversy around the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, which led to outrage with many customers threatening to cancel their subscriptions and celebrities recommending the cancelation of Disney subscriptions, price hikes may not be the way to go right now in order to undo some of the reputational damage caused.
Meanwhile, Trump threatened to “test ABC” after the broadcaster allowed Kimmel to return, stating on Truth Social: “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”
“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE,” Trump continued in his post. “He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this.”
Trump added: “Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
This is a reference to ABC previously settling with Trump in December, paying $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit, centered around anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
While Trump denied all wrongdoing in the case, a jury found that Trump had defamed Carrol and was liable for battery.
