“This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this,” Kimmel said. He called President Trump’s attacks on the news media and late-night hosts such as himself “anti-American.”

It was his first show back on air since ABC and parent Disney indefinitely pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last Wednesday for remarks the late-night host made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel said during his opening monologue that he hadn’t intended to blame any specific group for the actions of the man who killed Kirk. “For those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset,” he said.

Kimmel teared up while praising Kirk’s widow for forgiving the man who killed her husband, saying he was touched by her “selfless act of grace” and that the country needs more of that.

He also lashed out at Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who suggested last week that the agency could take action against the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations.

“Brendan Carr is the most embarrassing car that Republicans have embraced since this one,” Kimmel said as the screen displayed a photo of a Tesla Cybertruck with “Trump” painted on the side.

Kimmel played a clip of Trump calling for free speech and then said, “You almost have to feel sorry for him, he tried his best to cancel me.”

The host said he wasn’t happy with Disney and ABC for taking him off the air. He said they have clashed at times over the political tone of his show, but he thanked them for allowing the show to return.

Trump on Tuesday night, before Kimmel’s return, threatened ABC over its decision to allow the show to come back.

“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday night. He accused Kimmel of being an arm of the Democratic National Committee “and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”

Trump also alluded to the amount ABC agreed to pay late last year to settle a defamation lawsuit he filed against the network and its star anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“I think we’re going to test ABC out on this,” Trump said of Kimmel’s return. “Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”

A spokeswoman for ABC declined to comment.

The late-night show had been off the air since Sept. 17, after Carr criticized Kimmel’s remarks from two days earlier.

Kimmel had told viewers on Sept. 15 that “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.” He mocked Trump’s grieving, comparing it to “how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

After Carr’s comments about potential regulatory actions against licensed broadcasters, Nexstar said Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk’s death and about his followers were beyond the pale. The company has a $6.2 billion deal to acquire a rival broadcaster, Tegna, which will need FCC approval. A Nexstar spokesman said the decision to pull Kimmel wasn’t tied to the Tegna deal.

Sinclair called for Kimmel to apologize to the Kirk family and make a personal donation to the family and Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA.

The broadcasters Nexstar and Sinclair, which combined own and operate more than 60 ABC affiliates that reach 22% of U.S. households, said they planned to replace Kimmel’s show with news programming starting Tuesday night.

Ticket holders for Tuesday’s taping of the show faced a media spectacle as they lined up to enter El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where they were cordoned off from reporters gathered to interview audience members.

Down the block from the theater, a small rally in support of Kimmel was under way, with one man in American-theme clothing and another person dressed as a dinosaur. They led the crowd in chants like “Jimmy Kimmel stays. Trump must go.”

Another man wandered around with a sign that read, “Jimmy Kimmel Lies.”

Mike Conway, a recently retired college professor and media historian at Indiana University, is visiting the city for a conference. He said a friend had put in for tickets weeks ago and was approved, and then the show was canceled.

When it was relaunched for the night of their tickets, Conway decided to go.

“It seemed a lot more honest and open than what we thought he might be able to do,” he said of Kimmel’s performance.

Kate Hummel, a 39-year-old nanny in Los Angeles who attended Tuesday’s taping, said afterward that it was “inspiring that he’s back on the air.”

Trump, Carr and some other conservatives lauded Disney’s decision to suspend the show, while some Democrats and Republicans, as well as some people in Hollywood, expressed concern about government censorship. Some customers of Disney’s streaming services, Hulu and Disney+, canceled their subscriptions.

Joe Rogan, who hosts a popular podcast, sounded off on the Kimmel controversy Tuesday. “I definitely don’t think that the government should be involved, ever, in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue,” he said in an episode posted to YouTube.