Jimmy Kimmel Live was welcomed back on air on Tuesday night (US time) with the highest ratings the show has ever seen.
The host returned to screens with an emotional monologue, after being taken off-air due to comments made about Charlie Kirk.
But it seems as though all eyes really were on Kimmel, with the live show pulling 6.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched regularly scheduled episode in the show’s history, according to Variety.
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The jump in viewers represented a 343 per cent increase from the show’s season average of 1.4 million viewers.
Ratings would have been even higher if it had aired across the entire US; however, two major broadcasters, Nexstar and Sinclair, have refused to air the show, meaning it wasn’t available in 23 per cent of US households.
Kimmel’s opening monologue has also racked up 16 million views in less than 24 hours on YouTube.
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Kimmel was brought to tears during parts of his opening monologue.
”It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said.
“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
Kimmel also added that it was not his intention to “blame any specific group for the actions” of Kirk’s alleged killer.
“It was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” he said.
“That was really in 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.”
It returned to the ABC in the US yesterday, with his first guest being actor Glen Powell.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken off-air on September 17 by Disney after the host criticised the MAGA movement’s reaction to conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death.
The cancellation of the show led to mass backlash and outrage on both sides of the political spectrum, with concerns that the cancellation violated the nation’s right to free speech – which is protected in the US Constitution.
Disney lost $1.4 billion overnight after announcing the show had been cancelled.
Kimmel’s return to screens came one day after the Walt Disney Company – which owns the American Broadcasting Company or ABC – released a statement saying the show would be reinstated after it was suspended.
Disney said that its initial decision to “suspend production” was made to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.
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