Jimmy Kimmel is back. Here's what VIPs in the industry and beyond are saying about his return.

Stephen Colbert welcomed Kimmel back to the late-night scene in an episode of “The Late Show” on Monday.

“Just a few hours before we taped this broadcast, we got word that our long national late-night nightmare is over, because Disney announced that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will return to air on ABC tomorrow, Tuesday night,” he said, to loud cheers and applause from the audience.

He then joked that he was once again the only one getting canceled. CBS will stop airing his show after May 2026.

“Once more, I am the only martyr in late night. Unless, wait, CBS, you want to announce anything?” he said, to laughter from the crowd.

Jon Stewart said Kimmel’s return to late-night showed Americans need to “fight like hell” for their right to free speech.

In a Monday episode of “The Daily Show,” Stewart said Trump was “using all the levers of government” to punish his opponents.

“So you can get on board with that and say, I’m with that, or you can join the rest of us and fight like hell for this constitutional republic,” he said.

Stewart added that the public’s backlash against Disney’s decision had worked in bringing the show back.

Comedian Ben Stiller reshared the news that Kimmel was returning to the air with several celebratory emojis in a post on X.

Stiller has previously said on X that pulling Kimmel’s show from the air wasn’t right.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom reacted to the news on X in a post that called out Carr.

“Thank you to everyone but @BrendanCarrFCC. This is a win for free speech everywhere,” the post said.

When reached by Business Insider to comment on Kimmel’s show returning to air, Carr referred to comments he made earlier in the day at the Concordia Summit in New York City.

Carr said the FCC was trying to “empower local TV stations to serve the needs of the local communities.”

He said national programmers, such as Disney and ABC, have had too much control over the local TV stations that air their content, and that the local stations don’t feel like they can push back even when the programming is not a good fit for their communities.

Carr said the Kimmel situation was an example of those local stations standing up. He said the idea that the FCC threatened to revoke the licenses of Disney and ABC if they did not fire Kimmel was false.

“A lot of the last couple of days can be boiled down, at least in my view, to projection and distortion,” he said.

“Last week, Disney/ABC caved to Trump administration pressure. Millions of Americans helped them find their backbone,” Zohran mamdanithe Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, said in a post on X. “Whether you watch Jimmy Kimmel or not, today’s decision is a victory for free speech.”

Mamdani also said his team was working to reschedule a town hall with ABC that he had pulled out of over Kimmel’s suspension.

In a statement posted to X, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc., which owns ABC affiliate stations, said it would not be returning Kimmel to the air.

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” the company said on X. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

Andrew Kolvet, spokesman for Turning Point USAthe conservative organization founded by Charlie Kirk, responded to the news in a post on X.

“Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make,” he wrote. “Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”

Kolvet was also an executive producer on Charlie Kirk’s podcast.

Mark Hamill, the actor best known for playing Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars,” shared a screenshot of a news story with the headline “KIMMEL BACK!” in a post on Threads, writing, “Meltdown on ‘Truth’ Social in 5… 4… 3… 2…”

Peter Kafka contributed to this reporting.