Jimmy Kimmel Live came back on air last night, just not for ABC affiliates owned by Sinclair or Nexstar. Luckily, YouTube still works so everyone can check out Kimmel’s show online. ABC announced on Monday that they were bringing back Kimmel after a six-day suspension. Disney/ABC suspended Kimmel because of a joke/observation he made about Charlie Kirk’s shooter and how Republicans were trying to lie about the shooter’s background. The FCC chairman openly threatened Disney, as did Donald Trump and MAGAland. In the end, the power of free speech won and, even moreso, the power of consumers won. People were mass-canceling their Disney, Hulu and ESPN subscriptions and canceling their Disney theme park vacations and cruises. Disney folded, and Kimmel won. His staff apparently gave him a standing ovation before they filmed Tuesday’s episode. Kimmel didn’t apologize, although he did clarify his stance on Charlie Kirk and Kirk’s murder.

A partial transcript of Kimmel’s opening:

“Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted. If you’re just joining us, we are preempting your regularly scheduled encore episode of Celebrity Family Feud to bring you this special report. I’m happy to be here tonight with you… I’m not sure who had a weirder 48 hours, me or the CEO of Tylenol. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve heard from a lot of people over the last six days. I’ve heard from all the people in the world over the last six days. Anyone I’ve ever met has reached out 10 or 11 times. Weird characters from my past, or the guy who fired me from my first radio job in Seattle, not airing tonight by the way. Sorry Seattle, his name is Larry.”

He then thanked everyone who checked on him, including his “fellow late-night talk show hosts, including Stephen Colbert, who “found himself in this predicament,” and “My friend Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, James Corden, Arsenio, Kathy, Wanda, Chelsea, and even Jay [Leno] reached out.” He also thanked those who “supported our show, cared enough to do something about it, to make your voices heard so that mine will be heard. I will never forget it.”

“And maybe weirdly, maybe maybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway. People who I never would have imagined like Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Ryan Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz, who believe it or not said something very beautiful on my behalf.”

“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. If you like me, you like me. If you don’t, you don’t. I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind…. I do wanna 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,” referencing Kirk’s assassination. “I don’t, I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

“I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some that 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’d have felt the same way.”

“If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. It’s as simple as that….I know it’s not as interesting as muzzling a comedian but it’s so important to have a free press and it’s nuts that we aren’t paying more attention to it… Walter Cronkite must be spinning in his grave. He’s dead right? I never imagined I’d be in a situation like this — I barely paid attention in school. But one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern is a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American.”

[From People]

We’re actually pretty far past the “it’s anti-American for the president to shut down a comedian,” but the backlash to Kimmel’s suspension has felt good. It feels like there are still people who understand the fundamentals of free speech. Now, do I think that Disney would have lifted Kimmel’s suspension if consumers hadn’t protested by yanking their Hulu subscriptions? No, I don’t. I also think Disney realized something over the course of the past week – that it can be good business to stand up to Trump and his cadre of fascist dumbf–ks. Like, there’s a market for it. As for Kimmel, I’m glad he’s back and I think he handled his opening monologue really well, he set the right tone and spoke about everything in the correct way. There’s more happening on the political side, and I’ll cover that separately.

Photos/screencaps courtesy of ABC/JKL.