Jimmy Kimmel returns from lengthy hiatus with defiant message to FCC Chair Brendan Carr
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel took aim at Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr during his show on Tuesday, returning from a summer break, and said, "We are still here."
The late-night host noted that Tuesday's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" was its 4,000th episode.
"We’ve done 4,000 of these. Which is, it’s a lot of shows," Kimmel said. "According to the White House, it’s too many shows."
"There are those who said we would never last this long. There are even those who used the regulatory might of the FCC to unconstitutionally try to make sure we didn’t last this long. But we did it the hard way, Brendan. And we are still here," Kimmel said.
Kimmel referenced his show's brief suspension and ongoing clash with Carr in 2025.
The FCC did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Jimmy Kimmel is a no-talent loser who has be-clowned himself with tanking ratings and by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience. He is so devoid of actual talent that nobody with any commonsense would ever watch him unless it was to laugh at his miserable failures."
Carr warned ABC and Disney in September 2025 that the FCC could take action over comments made by Kimmel about the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025.
"In some quarters, there's a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature … of one of the most significant newsworthy public interest acts that we've seen in a long time in what appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or a Republican-motivated person," Carr said at the time.
"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead," Carr continued.
Kimmel's comment from Tuesday's show was likely referencing Carr's "hard way" remarks from 2025.
Kimmel also took aim at President Donald Trump during Tuesday's episode, saying he accomplished nothing all summer.
"You know, Donald Trump and I have one thing in common: We both accomplished nothing all summer long," he said, criticizing inflation, Trump's approval numbers, the reflection pool and the war in Iran.
Kimmel said, "At this point, Blockbuster Video has a better chance of reopening than the Strait of Hormuz."
Kimmel was briefly suspended last year over remarks he made about the man accused of assassinating Kirk.
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger defended the company's decision to suspend Kimmel at the time, saying Disney viewed the remarks as "in bad taste."
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In an interview with the Financial Times published in June, Iger said Disney's decision to remove "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" from the air was made not to appease the Trump administration but because of comments Kimmel made in September after Kirk's assassination.
"That was not the case," Iger said. "We thought it was in bad taste."
Iger said Kimmel was asked to apologize, saying, "We just wanted him to acknowledge that it was an ill-timed and probably inappropriate comment."
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In September 2025, Kimmel appeared to suggest that Kirk’s suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, was a member of the "MAGA gang."
"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.