Late-night TV show host Jimmy Kimmel has lost 71% of his audience since his show returned to air last month.

On Thursday, after "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" returned to air on Sept. 23 following a brief suspension, the show averaged 1.9 million viewers, losing 71% of the audience that tuned in for the host’s return, Fox News reported.

ABC announced last month that Kimmel's show would return to air after Disney suspended it. The situation arose after the host delivered a monologue in which he claimed Trump's "MAGA gang" was trying to politically benefit from conservative political activist Charlie Kirk's killing.

Kimmel said during his monologue, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Kirk, 31, was assassinated while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University by alleged shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, whose mother told police that he "had started to lean more to the left," according to a charging document.

Kimmel's show also lost 85% of the 1.7 million adults aged 25-54 who watched his return show. On Thursday, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" had 265,000 viewers from that age group.

Before the suspension, Kimmel averaged 1.6 million viewers in 2025.

On his return show, Kimmel said during his opening monologue, “I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind, but I do want to make something clear, because it’s important to me as a human, and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”

“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual,” he continued. “That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both, and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d have felt the same way.”