Addressing his current relationship with the network, Kimmel said “we talked it through, and at the end, even though they didn’t have to…they welcomed me back on the air. Unfortunately and, I think, unjustly, this puts them at risk. The President of the United States made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs.” He concluded his monologue by discussing the speech given by Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, during a memorial service organized by Turning Point USA, the conservative organization he co-founded: “On Sunday, Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was. That’s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow. It touched me deeply. It touches many, and if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, it should be that, and not this.”
Notably, this evening’s episode of Kimmel did not air on all ABC stations nationwide. The TV station groups Sinclair and Nexstar, which together control over 20 percent of the network’s local affiliates, had previously announced that they would pre-empt the show indefinitely on their programming schedules. Nexstar is currently trying to close a $6.2 billion merger with a rival TV company that will require FCC approval.
Sarah McLachlan was the musical guest on Kimmel tonight. She performed a solo piano rendition of the title track from Better Broken, her forthcoming first album in seven years. McLachlan recently cancelled her scheduled performance at the premiere event for Disney+’s Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery documentary, which took place on Sunday, September 21, “in support of free speech.”