Jimmy Kimmel Jokes With Miley Cyrus About His Suspension Over Charlie Kirk Comments: “I Will Never Be A Disney Legend”

Or any kind of legend…

Back in September, Jimmy Kimmel got a little bit of an unscheduled vacation when his show was briefly suspended by ABC after comments made on the assassination of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk. During his show following the shooting, Kimmel implied without evidence that the shooter was right-wing or “MAGA.”

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

His comments not only landed Kimmel criticism online, but they also caught the attention of FCC chair Brendan Carr, who called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and parent company, Disney.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”

Well it didn’t take long for companies to take action. Nexstar Media Group, the largest television station owner in the country (which also happens to be seeking government approval for a merger with another broadcast company, Tegna) announced that their ABC affiliates would be pulling Kimmel from its lineup.

And Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of ABC affiliates in the country, also announced that they would be pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely from their stations. The company said at the time that they would not lift Kimmel’s suspension “until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” while urging the host to issue a public apology to the Kirk family and make a donation to Turning Point USA.

The consequences for Kimmel ignited a firestorm and caused plenty of debate over free speech and government censorship, but shortly after being suspended by the network, ABC returned Kimmel to the airwaves.

In a statement, the Walt Disney Company said that Kimmel’s comments were “ill-timed” and “insensitive,” but that after discussing with Kimmel, the show would be returning to air following what amounted to a four day suspension.

“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.”

Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, revealed that Sinclair offered to have Kimmel apologize before returning him to the air, but that she didn’t feel it would be sincere so she didn’t take them up on the offer. And since then, Kimmel’s show has largely returned to normal – meaning his ratings are pretty much where they were before the controversy, drawing between 1 and 2 million viewers per night.

Last night, Miley Cyrus joined the show to promote her new song “Dream As One” for the upcoming movie Avatar: Fire and Ash, and the two briefly joked about Kimmel’s suspension from the network – with Miley relating it to her own “cancelation” back in the day:

“I smoked a joint when I had a Walmart deal and I thought they would come crawling back, and they never did. I never worked with them again.

But Disney did pretty good. You’re back. We’re happy he’s back.”

Miley joked that she’s a “Disney legend,” with Kimmel replying that he’s burned his bridges with Disney:

“I will never be a Disney legend. I figured it out. Nobody has cost this company more money in the history…”

I see why Disney was demanding so much more from YouTube TV, to keep giving us high quality programming like this…

The post Jimmy Kimmel Jokes With Miley Cyrus About His Suspension Over Charlie Kirk Comments: “I Will Never Be A Disney Legend” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.