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** OPINION
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** Jimmy Kimmel came back defiant — and viewers rewarded him
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A man holds a sign in front of the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ studio in Los Angeles on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

On Tuesday, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel returned from his suspension with an empathetic but defiant monologue ([link removed]) and included a joke about President Donald Trump. Kimmel said, “You almost have to feel sorry for him. He tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly.”

Just how bigly?

By Wednesday afternoon, the video of the monologue on the show’s official YouTube page was at 15 million views and climbing. That dwarfs the most-watched Kimmel video on YouTube in the past six months.

The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd wrote ([link removed]) , “Kimmel has many short clips from his show of sketches and guest interview segments that have racked up tens of millions of clicks over the years, but Tuesday night set a record in terms of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ monologue videos. The video is still going strong and averaging about 1 million views an hour.”

Hibberd reported that Kimmel’s previous most-watched opening monologue was from eight years ago, when he emotionally talked about his son’s birth and heart disease. That monologue has 14 million views on YouTube.

And the viewership numbers were through the roof. ABC announced that the TV audience was 6.3 million — more than three times the viewers of a typical Kimmel show. And, mind you, two major TV affiliate owners (Nexstar and Sinclair, which own nearly 25% of ABC affiliates) didn’t air the program.

Along with the overwhelming audience numbers, Kimmel’s monologue, for the most part, is being enthusiastically applauded. He managed to walk a delicate line of showing empathy over the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, but doubling down on his defense of the First Amendment and aggressively criticizing the Trump administration’s attempts to censor him.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Angie Han wrote ([link removed]) that “he rose to the occasion with an arresting 18-minute monologue that struck a high-difficulty balance between showing us a Kimmel worthy of all the outcry raised on his behalf without over-inflating his own importance, of keeping up the heat as needed without letting it boil over — and then, finally, of letting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ get back to the show it’s always been.”

The New York Times’ Adam Sternbergh wrote ([link removed]) , “When Mr. Kimmel returned on Tuesday, there was nothing shadowy or diminished about him. He did not apologize abjectly or rein himself in as a model for a chilling new form of tempered speech. Neither did he bound onstage and preen in triumph in a defiantly juvenile way. Instead he recognized every note that needed to be hit, and he hit them all with precision and impressive grace.”

Sternbergh added, “Mr. Kimmel’s well-tempered monologue prioritized clarity but not undue contrition.”

CNN’s Brian Stelter called ([link removed]) Kimmel’s monologue “eloquent and emotional.”

Not everyone, of course, praised the monologue.

Andrew Kolvet — spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Kirk — wrote on social media ([link removed]) that Kimmel’s monologue was “Not good enough.”

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** So now what?
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Kimmel is back, so now does everything go back to normal?

Well, we shall see.

For starters, two major TV operators — Nexstar and Sinclair — are still boycotting Kimmel’s show. Nexstar put out a statement Wednesday that said, “Nexstar is continuing to evaluate the status of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our ABC-affiliated local television stations, and the show will be preempted while we do so. We are engaged in productive discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.”

LateNighter’s Bill Carter wrote ([link removed]) , “Watching the smooth execution of the show (Tuesday) night, and the emphatic message it delivered in favor of free speech, it was hard to believe those holdout stations won’t be back soon.”

But beyond the little hiccup of Nexstar and Sinclair, what about the big picture?

The Washington Post’s Lili Loofbourow wrote ([link removed]) , “This will not be the end of the story.”

Why is that? Because Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr have made serious threats. The New York Times’ Cecilia Kang notes ([link removed]) , “Mr. Carr has appeared on conservative radio talk shows and Fox News to defend his actions, saying local broadcasters were finally serving audiences tired of biased programming. He has suggested the F.C.C. should investigate ABC’s daytime talk show ‘The View’ over its political content. He said he planned to continue the agency’s work to empower local TV stations to reject the shows they disagree with. Some of his rhetoric about ABC has softened a bit since, but his overall message has remained the same: He will not stop.”

Just before Kimmel went back on the air, Trump raged on social media ([link removed]) , threatening to sue ABC because he said, in a wild claim, that Kimmel was “yet another arm” of the Democratic National Committee.

Disney put Kimmel back on the air. And judging by Kimmel’s monologue, they didn’t place many conditions on his return.

Loofbourow wrote, “Kimmel’s return — and the tone he took — suggests there’s reason to hope. Trump has made it clear he plans to escalate. Fans of the First Amendment: Stay tuned.”


** Fighting back
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Semafor’s Max Tani reports ([link removed]) that a group of Disney shareholders is demanding to know more about why Kimmel was suspended. Tani wrote, “In a letter to Disney first shared with Semafor, lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, Reporters Without Borders, Inc. and other groups, all of which say they are Disney shareholders, requested the Hollywood entertainment giant turn over board records related to Kimmel’s suspension.”

The letter, obtained by Semafor, said, “Although we are pleased that ABC did the right thing and put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air last night, due to the Trump administration’s continued threats to free speech, including with respect to ABC, we are writing to seek transparency into the initial decision to suspend him and his show. There is a credible basis to suspect that the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.”

Meanwhile, CNN’s Brian Stelter was the first to report ([link removed]) that more than 100 former ABC News staffers are asking Disney CEO Bob Iger to “make a concerted effort to defend free speech and press freedom against political intimidation.” Among the former staffers who signed the letter are Sam Donaldson and Judy Muller; former executive producer Tom Bettag; and Kayce Freed Jennings, widow of legendary ABC “World News Tonight” anchor Peter Jennings.

The letter said, in part, “​​We want to acknowledge and commend your decision to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s show. It was the right call and an important statement that political intimidation should not dictate ABC’s programming. This action reflects the values that have long defined The Walt Disney Company. Yet, it must be just the first step in a concerted effort to defend free speech and press freedom against political intimidation. The $16 million settlement with Donald Trump, combined with the absence of a strong public defense of ABC News journalists under attack, has emboldened Administration efforts to intimidate the press.”


** Standing up and speaking out
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While Kimmel spent most of his opening monologue talking about his suspension, he did mention something else he found far more troubling: the Defense Department’s recent decision to make credential reporters at the Pentagon pledge to only report on information authorized for release by the government. That even included unclassified information.

Kimmel said, “I know that’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.”

The Washington Post editorial board weighed in on this topic in “Pete Hegseth vs. the press.” ([link removed]) The board wrote, "This kind of restriction would block some of the most important stories in modern times, including revelations of the shoddy conditions for wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison and even the military’s fabrication of evidence for UFOs. Hegseth’s actions appear driven more by self-interest than national security. The secretary has been embarrassed during his eight-month tenure with stories about dysfunction and infighting in his orbit.”

They added, “The restrictions are part of a pattern. Earlier this year, Hegseth evicted several news organizations, including The Post, from dedicated office space in the Pentagon. Reporters have also had their freedom of movement around the building curtailed. Press briefings have become almost nonexistent. The former Fox News host would be apoplectic, no doubt, about a Democratic administration behaving this way.”

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report” earlier this week ([link removed]) , Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said, “This is actually quite breathtaking in terms of its implications for the free press. There is no precedent for what they’re doing here. Now, it is true that access is something that is a privilege. At the CIA, reporters, journalists are not allowed just to wander as widely as they do in the Pentagon, but the Pentagon has had a long tradition of allowing the media to work with its own representatives and getting the story right.”

Turley added, “Now, there have been times where the press has published what was classified information. Some of those cases are the most significant in our country, like the Pentagon Papers, that produced great reforms, that informed the public of things that they had to know about. This measure is simply a bridge too far. It really does raise core press protections and it would devastate the press corps in the Pentagon.”


** A disturbing quote
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Katie Miller, wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, appeared on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” ([link removed]) and said something quite disturbing. No, it was not the part where she jokingly called her husband a “sexual matador” (a nickname Watters had given Stephen Miller ([link removed]) last year).

Actually, it was something else that Katie Miller said. When asked about her husband, she said, “He is an incredibly inspiring man who gets me going in the morning with his speeches being like, ‘Let’s start the day. I am going to defeat the left and we are going to win.’”

So let’s get this right. The deputy chief of staff to the president of the United States, one of the most influential people in the country, doesn’t get up each day hoping to use his power to help all Americans? He doesn’t think about ways to improve the lives of those struggling or suffering, regardless of how they vote?

But, instead, he gets up in the morning and gives pep talks about defeating the left?

And about winning — uh, winning what?

Katie Miller, by the way, was the press secretary for former Vice President Mike Pence and worked with Elon Musk at DOGE.


** Special guest: Chuck Todd
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Chuck Todd appears on "The Poynter Report Podcast." (Screenshot)

Be sure to listen to the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast.” ([link removed]) My guest is podcaster and journalist Chuck Todd, the former moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He gives surprising takes on the future of journalism, why “All the President’s Men” might not be the best movie about journalism and his brutally honest opinion on Joe Biden’s presidency. And we go into his decision to leave NBC News.


** Media tidbits
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* Puck's Dylan Byers is reporting ([link removed]) that Paramount Skydance's purchase of Bari Weiss’ The Free Press could be completed in about two weeks. Byers writes, “The final number is around $150 million, a mix of cash and stock.” Weiss is expected to have some sort of editorial leadership role at CBS News.
* The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin with “Washington Post Opinion Writer Says Firing Violated Labor Agreement.” ([link removed])
* New Jersey Advance Media’s Victoria Gladstone with “NJ PBS shutting down next year after massive funding cuts to public television. ([link removed]) ”
* The Los Angeles Times’ Malia Mendez with “Jessica Chastain pushes back against Apple’s decision to hold ‘The Savant’ after Charlie Kirk’s death.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* A fascinating report from The New York Times’ Katherine Rosman and Elisabeth Egan with “The Billionaire, the Psychedelics and the Best-Selling Memoir.” ([link removed])
* Finally, today, let’s send you out on a nice note. The show that featured Jimmy Kimmel’s return closed with a sweet act by singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan. So enjoy her performance of her new release: “Better Broken.” ([link removed])


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