Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologues have this week been raking in millions of views online since his return to late-night television.
After ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week, following comments Kimmel made in the wake of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the comedian returned to his Los Angeles studio Tuesday night and was met with a standing ovation.
During his opening monologue, he choked up as he told his audience it was “never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
Tuesday’s taping brought in a whopping 6.3 million views on television, according to preliminary data from audience measurement firm Nielsen. That’s triple his normal TV viewership, despite an estimated 23 percent of households not being able to watch on their local ABC stations due to an ongoing boycott by station owners Nexstar and Sinclair.
The Independent has reached out to Nexstar and Sinclair for any updates on the boycott.
Kimmel’s ratings were also off the charts on YouTube with a clip of his opening monologue Tuesday raking in more than 21 million views in two days. Variety reports the clip is Kimmel’s most-watched monologue ever on YouTube.
Kimmel’s online views continued to soar as his Wednesday night monologue amassed nearly 6.6 million views on YouTube in one day. In the monologue, Kimmel compared Trump to a “bully” after the president threatened to “test” ABC on its decision to return Kimmel to Americans’ screens.
Trump had previously reached a $16 million settlement with ABC after he sued the network over comments news anchor George Stephanopoulos made about writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits against the president.
Before Kimmel’s show was suspended, it averaged about 1.77 million views during the second quarter of this year. This past month, his opening monologues on YouTube were pulling in between 1.8 and 4.5 million views.
Disney, the parent company of ABC, brought Kimmel back on the air after a public uproar from celebrities, politicians and others who believed the show’s suspension was a violation of free speech protections.
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“We made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” Disney said when announcing Kimmel’s return to late-night earlier this week.
