The post comes hours before ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will return to the air on Tuesday, Sept. 23

Jimmy Kimmel has returned to social media for the first time since his late-night show’s hiatus.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the 57-year-old shared a photo of himself with the late Norman Lear on Instagram. “Missing this guy today,” Kimmel wrote alongside the picture.

A prolific TV writer, producer and activist, Lear died at 101 in December 2023 and is best known for creating the groundbreaking comedy series, All in the Family, which broached social and political issues deemed controversial at the time.

During an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Dec. 17, 2023, Kimmel got emotional during in his tribute to Lear, calling him “not only a giant in the world of television, but a great man who was one of the most important and impressive people I ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

“He changed situation comedy in the best possible way,” Kimmel said of the TV writer. “He taught us so much about so many serious things, always making us laugh while he did it, and everyone who works in or even watches television owes him a great debt. Especially me.”

The post comes hours before Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns to the air.

On Monday, Sept. 22, the Walt Disney Company issued a statement confirming that the show will return on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement read, referring to comments Kimmel made on Sept. 15 about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel in 2019.Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Kimmel’s photo choice is notable given Lear was famously outspoken in his opposition to the Federal Communications Committee and its rulings during his own career.

Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear.Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty

In 1976, following the FCC’s nationwide ruling about “family viewing time,” which required that all programming shown between 7-9 p.m. ET be suitable for everyone, regardless of age, Lear was one of many big names to co-sign a lawsuit against the government organization.

The suit, which was brought by Lear and the Writers Guild of America, was a success and a protection of the right to freedom of speech, as a California District court ruled that the “family viewing time” policy violated the First Amendment.

Kimmel has recently been criticized by the current FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr, following his monologue on Sept. 15.

“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 and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

“On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued, as a clip cut into Kimmel’s broadcast, showing President Donald Trump, 79, taking questions from reporters after the shooting, one of which offered their condolences for the death of the president’s “friend” Kirk.

When asked how he was holding up, Trump replied, “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”

Trump continued discussing the ballroom plans, saying the result would “be a beauty.” The cameras then cut back to Kimmel, who said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction.”

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In the wake of Kirk’s murder, Kimmel offered condolences to Kirk’s family on social media, writing, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”

During an interview on Benny Johnson’s podcast, Carr called Kimmel’s comments on his Sept. 15 show “truly sick” and said the FCC had a “strong case” to hold the host and the company he works for accountable if that company didn’t “take action on Kimmel.”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said at the time. “There are calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this.”

Carr also addressed the “individual licensed stations” airing ABC content across the country, telling them “it’s time for them to step up” and take action as well.

Normal Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Kerry Washington.Eric McCandless via Getty

Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air indefinitely on Sept. 17, an ABC spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE.

Both Nexstar and Sinclair (the broadcasting company that makes up the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group), announced they would preempt the show on their affiliate stations. Following the news of the show’s return, both declared they will continue preempting the broadcast.

Amid Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom on Thursday, Sept. 18, Trump, 79, shared his thoughts about Kimmel’s hiatus and characterized it as a firing.

“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great man named Charlie Kirk,” Trump said. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.”

“You can call that free speech or not,” the president continued. “He was fired for lack of talent.”

Lear was known to be on the “enemies list” of President Richard Nixon, who was in the White House from 1969 to 1974.

In a 2016 interview with Democracy Now!, Lear quipped that he “got lucky” by being noticed by the then-president and singled out for how boundary-breaking his shows were.

“I think I just got lucky,” Lear said of his spot on Nixon’s enemies list. “Well, he’s on tape, you know, I think we used the tape in the American Masters documentary, where he is talking about it with [H.R.] Halderman in his office, he’s talking about ‘that show that makes fun of a good man.’ Those were his words. And he was talking about Archie Bunker [from All in the Family] … And he was talking about — that we were lauding homosexuality and homosexuality brought down the Greek empire… It was Nixon at his Trump-ish.”