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Podcaster Zack Peter weighed in on the news of Jimmy Kimmel’s return to his late-night talk show on Tuesday, September 23, following his suspension over jokes about the death of Charlie Kirk. On September 23, 2025, Peter reposted Pop Crave’s announcement that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would resume airing that week and cast doubt on the show’s long-term future.
In his post, Zack Peter suggested that Kimmel’s contract was unlikely to be renewed and speculated on how the comedian might eventually frame his departure. He stated that Kimmel would attempt to control the narrative by portraying himself as a victim of censorship and a "fake martyr." He also predicted that the late-night host would "launch a podcast" in the future.
“Calling it now: Kimmel’s contract ends in 2026. His show will not be renewed. He’ll say it’s ‘his choice.’ He’ll say he’s leaving in the name of Free Speech to launch a podcast where he can’t be ‘censored.’ He’ll make himself a fake martyr despite being an advocate for cancel culture,” Zack Peter remarked.
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What else did Zack Peter say about Jimmy Kimmel’s show suspension?
The aforementioned instance was not the first time Zack Peter had shared his views on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! following the host’s controversial comments about the suspect linked to Charlie Kirk’s case.
On September 17, Disney-owned ABC first announced that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show would be taken off the air “indefinitely.”
The decision came a day after Kimmel used his September 16, 2025, Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue to criticize those defending Kirk’s alleged killer and to link the suspect to President Donald Trump’s “MAGA” movement.
“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,” Kimmel said during his show.
Shortly after Kimmel’s suspension was confirmed, Zack Peter reacted to the news via a post on X.
Although he expressed personal disapproval of Kimmel’s remarks, Peter argued that canceling the show undermined the very principles Charlie Kirk had stood for. He suggested that silencing opposing voices, even when offensive, only fueled the cycle of “cancel culture.”
“While I personally dislike Jimmy Kimmel and think his comments were insensitive, I don’t think his show should’ve been pulled. This only contributes to the same ‘cancel culture’ the Left has been accused of and actually goes against everything Charlie Kirk fought for,” Peter wrote.
One user responded under Peter’s post, suggesting the network had used Kimmel’s controversial remarks as a convenient excuse to drop a show that was already struggling.
“Yeah, Late Night is a dying medium. It’s likely this may have just been an excuse to axe him,” Zack Peter commented in response.
That same day, however, Peter shared another post on X, clarifying that he did not view Kimmel’s suspension as a straightforward case of cancel culture.
According to him, if the tragedy had been any other American loss than Charlie Kirk’s assassination, it would have been treated “with more respect & dignity” by the late-night host.
Instead, Peter argued, Kimmel had used Kirk’s death “to spread a false narrative to push his political ideology on his viewers”, and for that reason, many viewers had grown “tired of it.”
More about Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show reinstatement following its suspension
The news of Jimmy Kimmel’s return to his late-night talk show was confirmed by Disney, which owns ABC, the U.S. broadcast network that airs Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In a press release to NBC News on September 22, Disney outlined its decision:
“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 also revealed that, after several days of discussions with Kimmel, Disney had decided to reinstate the show.
“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,” the statement added
According to a report by the BBC, the sudden suspension of the show had sparked widespread backlash across the United States. Writers’ and actors’ unions, lawmakers, and civil liberties organizations argued that ABC’s action threatened free speech and could set a chilling precedent for television hosts and satirists.
However, not everyone opposed the initial suspension.
President Donald Trump had publicly welcomed ABC’s decision and suggested that some networks should risk losing their broadcast licenses over what he deemed “negative coverage.” Regarding Kimmel’s reinstatement, the president declined to comment during a White House event on Monday.
The aforementioned BBC report also detailed that ABC affiliates remained divided over airing the show’s return.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, the network’s largest affiliate owner, confirmed it would continue replacing Jimmy Kimmel Live! with news programming while evaluating the situation.
Similarly, Nexstar Media, another major station group, stated the week before that it would not broadcast the show “for the foreseeable future” and had not updated its position following the reinstatement.
Currently, Zack Peter hosts his pop-culture and reality TV podcast, #NoFilter with Zack Peter, which is available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts.
On the other hand, Jimmy Kimmel has remained publicly silent, issuing no statements regarding either the suspension of his show or its recent reinstatement.
