Sarah McLachlan Performs on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ as Show Returns After Suspension

Sarah McLachlan is speaking her mind.

Tuesday, Sept. 23 marked the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live! nearly a week after the late-night show was indefinitely suspended by ABC over Kimmel discussing Charlie Kirk‘s assassination and President Trump. Grammy winner McLachlan served as the musical guest on the episode.

McLachlan, 57, made an appearance toward the show’s end, taking the stage to perform the title track from her tenth studio album, Better Broken. She didn’t speak outside of her performance, during which she played piano. It was immediately followed by a commercial break.

As the show returned, Kimmel thanked McLachlan and fellow guest Glen Powell for serving as his first guests after his suspension. The comedian then joked, “I think we’ll see you tomorrow, goodnight!”

McLachlan is currently promoting her 10th album, Better Broken. She also appears in the new documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, which looks back on the all-female touring festival she founded in the ’90s. The documentary is streaming on Hulu and Disney+ and is distributed by ABC News Studios, all of which are owned by Disney, the parent company of the network that pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The late-night show was pulled off the air by ABC on Sept. 17 after Nexstar Media and Sinclair — which own 63 of ABC’s 205 affiliate stations, according to The New York Times — said they wouldn’t air it in light of Kimmel’s comments following the death of right-wing political commentator Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking in Utah on Sept. 10.

During the Monday, Sept. 15 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host, 57, said, “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.”

Kimmel then showed clips of President Donald Trump being asked about Kirk’s death, with Trump indicating he was holding up “very good” before turning his attention to the new ballroom being constructed at the White House. The cameras then cut back to Kimmel, who said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay?”

Ahead of the episode, Kimmel had offered his condolences on social media, saying, “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.”

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The Walt Disney Company on Monday, Sept. 22 issued a statement confirming that the show would return the next day.

“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. “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.”

McLachlan’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! comes days after she canceled a performance at the Lilith Fair documentary’s L.A. premiere.

At the premiere, she explained that multiple artists had chosen not to perform “but instead to stand in solidarity in support of free speech,” McLachlan — who did not mention Kimmel by name — said, according to video shared by The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s a gift for all of us to see [this film], but also I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with, the stark contraction to the many advances we’ve made watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech,” McLachlan — McLachlan did not serve as a producer on the doc — told the crowd.

She added: “I think we’re all fearful for what comes next, and none of us know, but what I do know is that I have to keep pushing forward as an artist, as a woman, to find a way through, and though I don’t begin to know what the answer is, I believe we all need to work towards a softening to let in the possibility of a better way, because I see music as a bridge to our shared humanity, to finding common ground.”

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Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.