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Jimmy Kimmel was greeted by a familiar face as he returned to the set of his late night show Tuesday.
A-list actor Glen Powell was there to provide support for his longtime friend as his first guest back since Kimmel’s suspension last week over comments he made about the reaction to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel, 57, embraced Powell, 36, on the emotional evening in Hollywood, and told him that he was apologetic for dragging him ‘into the middle of all this.’
Powell said, ‘I’m honored – I’m just so happy you’re back’ – a sentiment not all shared amid the national controversy stemming from the tragic September 10 shooting of Kirk on a Utah college campus.
The Chad Powers star even revealed a past connection he had with the Hollywood-based late night show prior to his career breakout.
The Austin, Texas native explained how he moved to Los Angeles in 2008 with few resources as he pursued a career as an actor.

Jimmy Kimmel was greeted by Glen Powell as he returned to his late night show Tuesday after his suspension last week over comments he made about the death of activist Charlie Kirk

Kimmel, 57, told Powell, 36, that he was apologetic for dragging him ‘into the middle of all this’
Powell said he caught a break when Kimmel and his producer Diane Kelson let him in his snack-packed green room when he couldn’t afford groceries.
‘So when you can’t afford snacks or alcohol, I could always come to the Jimmy Kimmel show and have my feast,’ said the actor, who has since appeared in action blockbusters such as The Running Man, Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters.
‘Would it be possible when you retell this story that you would say, in a way, I saved your life?’ Kimmel joked.
Powell, who’s also been seen in films such as Hidden Figures, Everybody Wants Some!! and The Dark Knight Rises, was on the ABC series to promote his new series Chad Powers, which is set to debut September 30.
On the show – which will be streamed by Hulu, a subsidiary of ABC parent company Disney – Powell plays a football player named Russ Holliday looking to jumpstart his career.
Following a bad mistake that ended his college career, Holliday is ‘trying to resurrect his dreams by disguising himself as Chad Powers,’ according to a synopsis from producers.
The titular character is described as ‘a talented oddball who walks onto the struggling South Georgia Catfish’ in trying to reclaim his past glory on the gridiron.
Disney on Monday released a statement confirming the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after it suspended production in an effort to ‘avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.’

The Chad Powers star revealed a past connection he had with the Hollywood-based late night show prior to his career breakout

Powell has appeared in action blockbusters such as The Running Man, Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters
The company added, ‘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 on Tuesday stressed he had not been attempting to make light of Kirk’s death at 31 with his prior comments.
‘I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind,’ the late night host said, ‘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 – I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.’
Kimmel denied that he was looking to put blame on any specific groups for the tragic murder.
‘That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make,’ he said, calling shooting suspect Tyler Robinson ‘obviously a deeply disturbed individual.’
The comic said he understood that some of his comments ‘felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both’ so soon after the senseless killing of Kirk.