Jimmy Kimmel Thanks Ted Cruz, Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Other Conservatives For Defending His Right to Free Speech: ‘It Takes Courage’

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel thanked a list of conservatives, including three Republican senators, for defending his right to free speech on Tuesday during his first show back after being temporarily suspended by ABC.

Delivering his first Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue since the show was suspended last week, Kimmel said, “Maybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway. People who I never would have imagined, like Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, even my old pal Ted Cruz, who believe it or not said something very beautiful on my behalf.”

Kimmel then played a clip of Cruz declaring, “I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said! I am thrilled that he was fired.”

“Oh, wait, no. Not that. The other part,” joked Kimmel, before playing the rest of the clip, which showed Cruz saying, “But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”

Kimmel reacted, “I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but Ted Cruz is right. This affects all of us, including him. I mean, think about it. If Ted Cruz can’t speak freely, then he can’t cast spells on the Smurfs.”

“Even though I don’t agree with many of those people on most subjects – some of the things they say even make me want to throw up – it takes courage for them to speak out against this administration and they did,” he concluded. “And they deserve credit for it.”

Watch above via ABC.