Jimmy Kimmel will be back on air Tuesday — but he won’t be apologizing for his false claim last week that Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer was part of the “MAGA gang,” The Post has learned.
The $15 million-per-year ABC late-night host negotiated his return to the airwaves directly with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and his No. 2, Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden, sources with knowledge of the situation told The Post.
Kimmel will address the controversy during his monologue on Tuesday though he will stop short of apologizing, the sources said.
It’s not clear whether ABC’s two biggest station owners will carry the program after they pushed to yank him from the airways for the Sept. 15 comments about Kirk’s assassination.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns dozens of ABC affiliates, had publicly demanded Kimmel apologize to Kirk’s family and pledge a donation to Turning Point USA, the activist group Kirk founded.
The company signaled it could preempt the program if those conditions were not met. Nexstar Media Group also threatened to pull the show unless Disney acted.
Andrew Kolvet, chief spokesperson for Turning Point USA, wrote on X: “Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmell back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nexstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”
The Post has sought comment from Sinclair and Nexstar.
In a statement Monday, Disney said it suspended Kimmel last Wednesday “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” calling some of his comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
The suspension followed a monologue in which Kimmel claimed Kirk was killed by other Trump supporters — despite authorities saying the alleged shooter had left-wing views.
