ABC, which suspended Kimmel's show last Wednesday following criticism of his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, announced on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return after the network had "thoughtful conversations" with the host.
After a standing ovation on his return on Tuesday Kimmel said: "It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.
"I don't think there's anything funny about it."
An audience member, Walter Bates, said in an interview after the taping on Tuesday that Kimmel "made sure that everybody knew that he was not ... making fun of the tragedy of Charlie Kirk's murder".
Kimmel also praised Kirk's wife for showing Christian values in forgiving her husband's killer.
"It was a very moving moment," he said. "I got very emotional and so did my wife."
"Then he went back to hitting the administration," he said.
Kimmel's viewership was more limited than usual. Two companies that owned ABC affiliates said they would not put Kimmel's show on, leaving audiences in such cities as St Louis, Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia to watch something else. The Sinclair and Nexstar corporations collectively control about a quarter of ABC affiliates.
"Our long national late nightmare is over," Stephen Colbert joked on his CBS show in response to Kimmel's reinstatement.
Kimmel, who has been publicly silent since his suspension, posted on Tuesday on his Instagram account a picture of himself with the late television producer and free speech advocate Norman Lear. "Missing this guy today," he wrote.
ABC suspended Kimmel "indefinitely" after comments he made in a monologue last week.
Kimmel, who has been a relentless Trump critic in his comedy, suggested that many Trump supporters were trying to capitalise on Kirk's death and were "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them".
Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr last week said it appeared that Kimmel was trying to "directly mislead the American public" with his remarks about Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man charged with Kirk's killing, and his motives.
Those motives remain unclear. Authorities say Robinson grew up in a conservative family, but his mother told investigators his son had turned left politically in the last year.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said before ABC announced the suspension.
"These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
Those remarks set a backlash in motion, with Republican Senator Ted Cruz saying that Carr acted like "a mafioso".
Hundreds of entertainment luminaries, including Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Aniston, signed a letter circulated by the American Civil Liberties Union that called ABC's move "a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation".
Some consumers punished ABC parent Disney by cancelling subscriptions to its streaming services.
Trump had hailed Kimmel's suspension and criticised his return, writing on his Truth Social platform: "I can't believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back ... Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who's not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE."
Trump's administration has used threats, lawsuits and federal government pressure to try to exert more control over the media industry. Trump sued ABC and CBS over news coverage, which the companies settled. Trump has also filed defamation lawsuits against The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and successfully urged Congress to strip federal funding from NPR and PBS.
The ABC statement said the suspension happened because some of Kimmel's comments were "ill-timed and thus insensitive," but it did not call them misleading.
with PA
