“She said that it was a rough week for everybody,” an audience member who says she sat next to Kimmel’s mom Joan during the Sept. 23 taping told PEOPLE

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Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late-night TV moved his mother to tears, according to an audience member who sat next to her at the taping.

“I saw her wiping her eyes several times,” said Leesa Bates of Kimmel’s mom, Joan, while speaking to PEOPLE outside the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 23, shortly after taping on Jimmy Kimmel Live! wrapped.

Kimmel, 57, made his return to the airwaves six days after ABC and The Walt Disney Company placed him and the entire Jimmy Kimmel Live! staff on an “indefinite” hiatus over comments he made on the Sept. 15 episode of his show about the death of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.

News broke on Monday, Sept. 22, that Kimmel’s show would be returning, though affiliate broadcast companies Nexstar and Sinclair vowed to continue preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! on affiliate stations.

While the controversy had far from quieted by airtime, Kimmel had his parents in the audience to cheer him on.

“I did sit by his mom,” Bates said. “I was right next to [her]. And his dad.”

Said Bates of Joan, “She was very nice. She just chit-chatted with me, and we talked about where I was from. It was very cool.”

According to Bates, Joan warned her that she might become emotional during the recording.

“She said, ‘If I start to cry, I’m sorry,’ ” Bates recalled Joan telling her. “And I said, ‘No, if you start to cry, I’m going to start to cry.’ And we did. But it was very sweet. She’s a very nice lady.”

Joan also shared what it was like for the Kimmel family in the wake of the late-night host’s suspension, according to Bates.

“She said that it was a rough week for everybody, and it was a really rough period,” Bates told PEOPLE.

“We’ve never experienced anything like that,” she remembered Joan telling her.

After the show, Kimmel’s mom appeared pleased with how the taping went, according to Bates, who is from Beaverton, Oregon.

“She seemed very proud of him,” the audience member continued. “She got up, said goodbye and ran down and gave him a big ole’ hug.”

Being sat next to Kimmel’s mom and dad was a surprise for Bates and her husband, Walter.

“There was nobody sitting in the two seats by us, and we wondered who was gonna sit there,” Bates explained. “And when [Kimmel’s parents] came and sat down, it was very exciting for us. But it was just a very cool feeling in that whole place, knowing that this is pretty monumental.”

During his opening monologue on the show, Kimmel became emotional as he addressed his previous remarks about Kirk and teared up speaking about his widow, Erika Kirk, and her speech at her husband’s memorial service on Sunday, Sept 21.

“I do wanna 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,” referencing Kirk’s assassination. “I don’t, I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”

He continued, “I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. 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.”

Kirk, 31, a right-wing commentator, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while at a speaking event at Utah Valley University.

Tyler Robinson has since been charged with aggravated murder in connection with Kirk’s death, and during her husband’s memorial, Erika shared a message of forgiveness for 22-year-old Robinson.

“Erika Kirk forgave the man who shot her husband. She forgave him,” Kimmel said on his show Tuesday night, tearing up. “That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was. That’s it. A selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow.”

“It touched me deeply,” Kimmel continued. “I hope it touches many, and if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that and not this.”

Elsewhere in his monologue, Kimmel addressed the importance of free speech and addressed questions of whether there were “conditions” he had to meet to get back on the air.

“There is one,” he quipped as he took a piece of paper out of his suit. “Disney has asked me to read the following statement, and I’ve agreed to do it. Here we go. ‘To reactivate your Disney+ and Hulu account, open the Disney+ app on your smart TV or TV-connected device.’ “