NEED TO KNOW
Guillermo Rodriguez is happy to be back on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
In a joint post with the talk show’s official Instagram page on Tuesday, Sept. 23, the late-night sidekick acknowledged its return, which is set to air later that day after being suspended by Disney’s ABC six days prior. Along with a photo of him hugging host Jimmy Kimmel, Rodriguez shared a short but sweet message with fans.
“We are back full of love,” the caption reads.
The comments quickly filled with excited fans celebrating the news. “Welcome back Jimmy and Guillermo!!!” one user wrote.
Someone else gushed, “i 💙you forever,” as another commented, “Favorite comedic duo 🙌🙌🙌.”
On Monday, Sept. 22, the Walt Disney Company issued a statement confirming that the show will return on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
“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,” the statement read, referring to comments Kimmel made on Sept. 15 about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“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.”
Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty
Kimmel was initially pulled off the air on Sept. 17, two days after discussing the right-wing commentator’s Sept. 10 shooting death in his monologue.
“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,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued, as a clip cut into Kimmel’s broadcast showing President Donald Trump taking questions from reporters after the shooting. One offered their condolences for the death of the president’s “friend,” Kirk.
When asked how he was holding up, Trump, 79, replied, “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”
Trump continued discussing the ballroom plans, saying the result would “be a beauty.” When cameras cut back to Kimmel, he said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction.”
Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty
Kimmel previously offered condolences to Kirk’s family on social media, writing, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
Both Nexstar and Sinclair — the broadcasting company that makes up the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group — announced they would preempt the show on their affiliate stations at the time. Following the news of the show’s return, both revealed that they will continue preempting the broadcast.
Hours before his Sept. 23 broadcast, Kimmel broke his silence for the first time since the late-night show’s hiatus with a photo of himself and the late Norman Lear on Instagram.
“Missing this guy today,” Kimmel wrote.
Lear, who died at 101 in December 2023, was a prolific TV writer, producer and activist best known for creating the groundbreaking comedy series, All in the Family, which broached social and political issues deemed controversial at the time. He was also known to be on the “enemies list” of President Richard Nixon, who was in the White House from 1969 to 1974.
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Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
