Jimmy Kimmel’s Return Talks With Disney Brass Went Down To Wire Monday: “Jimmy Will Say What Jimmy Wants To Say”

EXCLUSIVE: Tuesday’s return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night TV was the result of days of meetings and negotiations with top Disney executives that only came to a resolution Monday morning.

“There was always a desire to do the best thing for the company,” an insider told Deadline of the direct talks and “thoughtful conversations” between Disney CEO Bob Iger, Disney Entertainment chief Dana Walden and Kimmel and his team. To that, the final sign-off on Kimmel’s return to his long-running Jimmy Kimmel Live! was made this morning by Iger and Walden after a last-minute flurry of paperwork, texts and calls with Team Jimmy, I’m told.

Having started the day after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was “preempted indefinitely” over remarks the host made on-air about Donald Trump and MAGA’s reaction to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the conversations among the principals continued over the weekend until an agreement was reached today. Amidst protests outside Disney HQ and more direct attacks from Trump at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday, whispers that something was up, and the guitars-down protest by Sarah McLachlan and others at last night’s Lilith Fair documentary premiere in Los Angeles, clearly whatever compromise was reached today was in Kimmel’s favor.

“Jimmy will say what Jimmy wants to say,” a source says regarding what restrictions, if any, were placed on the past Oscar host as a condition of his return.

Reps for Kimmel and for Disney (beyond the statement the company brought out earlier announcing the host’s return) had nothing more to say about what was and was not agreed to that assured the outspoken, “very talented and funny” (according to ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner) Kimmel could resume his show.

Live! will resume Tuesday with a full audience in its Hollywood Boulevard studio, guests and all the bells and whistles. Who those guests will be is in flux, with some of the people who were supposed to be on last week in the mix. It does appear that frequent Kimmel foil Matt Damon will not be on the ABC late-nighter Tuesday, at least as of right now.

No word yet either on what affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar — who both independently yanked Kimmel off their ABC stations over his “ill-timed and thus insensitive,” as Disney called them today, remarks — will do and if they will show Live! or not this week. In a rare move, Trump did not address Kimmel’s return while talking in front of the press this afternoon about autism causes and cures — though the ex-Apprentice host will undoubtedly toss something up on social media eventually. (Update, 4:17 PM: Sinclair say they will continue to preempt Kimmel’s show for news programming, but that “discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”)

On the other hand, Howard Stern had stinging comments today over Kimmel going dark, and joined the groundswell of subscribers cancelling Disney+. Before Disney’s statement that Kimmel would be back was sent out, Whoopi Goldberg and other hosts on ABC’s The View host spoke up. The View‘s resident conservative host Alyssa Farah Griffin added to that, saying, “The First Amendment is the first for a reason, because you need to be able to hold those in power accountable.” Also today, as tensions rose over Kimmel’s situation, the ACLU released a letter signed by more than 400 big names including Disney regulars Meryl Streep, Selena Gomez, Kerry Washington and Diego Luna, plus Ariana DeBose, Regina King, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jean Smart and Noah Wyle.

On Wall Street, Disney stock was taking a bit of a hit too.

Deadline’s reports of dissent within Disney’s upper ranks and the widespread negative reaction among top-tier Hollywood talent to Kimmel’s “pseudo suspension,” as one source called it, last week stung Iger and CEO contender Walden, I hear. However, individuals close to the action insist that “outside pressures” or critiques had no significant impact on coming to a timely resolution.

“It became such a mess, the only solution for all sides was to get this over with sooner than later,” a Hollywood power player in the Disney-Kimmel loop says.

As for Kimmel himself and how he will address the past week — and Trump’s “no talent,” “low ratings” swipes at him — well, stay tuned.

In another comedy context, all this sure could prove an untimely development for South Park, which already punted last week’s episode due to timing and fast-moving current events. But that’s Paramount’s issue, not Disney’s.