Jimmy Kimmel chokes up as he explains Kirk comments, says he 'never' intended to mock assassination

Jimmy Kimmel Live host Jimmy Kimmel insisted that he never intended to make light of Charlie Kirk's assassination in comments that led to his show's suspension Tuesday night was the first show Kimmel hosted since Disney revealed its return on Monday after nearly a week off the air Kimmel came out to a standing ovation which continued into chants of Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy and ongoing cheering If you are just joining us we are preempting your regularly scheduled encore episode of 'Celebrity Family Feud ' we re bringing you this special assessment Kimmel opened I m happy to be here with you tonight WHY ABC BRINGS BACK JIMMY KIMMEL NOWADAYS AFTER ITS DEBACLE OVER FREE SPEECHHe went on to thank his fellow late-night talk show hosts including Stephen Colbert Jon Stewart and David Letterman along with right-leaning critics like Clay Travis and Sen Ted Cruz R-Texas for showing a few help for him during his suspension Kimmel then addressed though did not apologize for the comments that originally got him suspended I ve been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight and the truth is I don t think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference Kimmel disclosed If you like me you like me If you don t you don t I have no illusions about changing anyone s mind But I want to make something clear because it s fundamental 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 Kimmel began tearing up as he announced he posted a message to Instagram sending love to Kirk's family the day of his death Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions he continued It was a deeply disturbed individual That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make but I understand that to certain it felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both and for those who think I did point a finger I get why you re upset If the situation was reversed there s a good chance I would have felt the same way Kimmel added I have a large number of friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to even though we don t agree on politics at all I don t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone This was a sick person who considered violence was a method and it isn t ever LIBERALS RAGE AS ABC PULLS JIMMY KIMMEL OFF AIR FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN COMMENTSKimmel also gave his mixed thoughts on Disney suspending his show after years on the air Every night they defended my right to poke fun at our leaders and to advocate for subjects that I think are key by allowing me to use their platform and I'm very grateful for that With that reported I was not happy when they pulled me off the air on Wednesday Kimmel explained He added I did not agree with that decision and I informed them that and we had a multitude of conversations I shared my point of view they shared theirs We talked it through And at the end even though they didn t have to they really didn t have to this is a giant company we have short attention spans and I am a tiny part of the Disney corporation they welcomed me back on the air Kimmel closed his monologue by tearfully recounting Erica Kirk's speech at her husband's funeral where she manifested forgiveness to his assassin There was a moment over the weekend a very beautiful moment I don t know if you saw this On Sunday Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband She forgave him That is an example we should follow If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do there it was That s it A selfless act of grace forgiveness from a grieving widow It touched me deeply and I hope it touches multiple and if there s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward I hope it can be that Kimmel disclosed Kimmel s show was suspended by Disney last Wednesday after he revealed right-wing commentators were desperately trying to characterize Kirk s alleged assassin as someone who wasn t MAGA We hit particular 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 sum political points from it Kimmel reported on Sept Broadcasting companies Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Nexstar Media Group declared after the episode aired that they would be preempting the show across dozens of ABC affiliates because of Kimmel s ill-timed and insensitive comments CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREFederal Communications Commission FCC chair Brendan Carr also made a veiled threat against the show following backlash from the comments Sinclair and Nexstar preempted Kimmel s show again Tuesday night and have declared they will keep doing so as discussions with ABC continue behind the scenes Ahead of Kimmel's return President Donald Trump attacked both Kimmel and ABC for bringing the show back despite being narrated that it was canceled CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP I can t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back The White House was recounted by ABC that his Show was cancelled Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE and his talent was never there Why would they want someone back who does so poorly who s not funny and who puts the Infrastructure in jeopardy by playing positive Democrat GARBAGE Trump wrote He continued 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 Let s see how we do Last time I went after them they gave me Million Dollars This one sounds even more lucrative A true bunch of losers Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings