Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Silence in First Post Since His Suspension with Photo of Norman Lear

Jimmy Kimmel has returned to social media for the first time since his late-night show’s hiatus.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the 57-year-old shared a photo of himself with the late Norman Lear on Instagram. “Missing this guy today,” Kimmel wrote alongside the picture.

A prolific TV writer and producer, Lear died at 101 in December 2023. In a show commemorating his life and legacy, Kimmel got emotional during in his tribute to Lear, calling him “not only a giant in the world of television, but a great man who was one of the most important and impressive people I ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

“He changed situation comedy in the best possible way,” Kimmel said of the All in the Family creator. “He taught us so much about so many serious things, always making us laugh while he did it, and everyone who works in or even watches television owes him a great debt. Especially me.”

The post comes hours before Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns to the air.

On Monday, Sept. 22, the Walt Disney Company issued a statement confirming that the show will return on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement read, referring to comments Kimmel made on Sept. 15 about Charlie Kirk‘s assassination.

“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

In his monologue last week, Kimmel said of Kirk: “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. In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued, as a clip cut into Kimmel’s broadcast, showing President Donald Trump, 79, taking questions from reporters after the shooting, one of which offered their condolences for the death of the president’s “friend” Kirk.

When asked how he was holding up, Trump replied, “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”

Trump continued discussing the ballroom plans, saying the result would “be a beauty.” The cameras then cut back to Kimmel, who said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction.”

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In the wake of Kirk’s murder, Kimmel offered condolences to Kirk’s family on social media, writing, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.

Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air indefinitely on Sept. 17, an ABC spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE.

Nexstar’s broadcasting division President Andrew Alford said in a statement that Kimmel’s comments were “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse” as the media company revealed it would “preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future.”

Both Nexstar and Sinclair (the broadcasting company that makes up the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group), both announced they will continue to preempt the show on their affiliate stations.