Jimmy Kimmel’s comeback to late night has been dealt a massive blow with ABC affiliates refusing to broadcast it in nearly 40 major markets after Disney announced the liberal TV host will return Tuesday.
Sinclair, whose local stations pay to run Jimmy Kimmel Live!, is standing by its policy from last week that it would keep the show off the air indefinitely, though the two sides were in talks.
The company said: ‘Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.’
Preemption is when the owners of an affiliate switch out national programming with their own.
It came as people across the political spectrum reacted to Kimmel’s return, with MAGA raging and Charlie Kirk’s former co-host Andrew Kolvet writing: ‘Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.’
The biggest affiliate Sinclair owns is WJLA in Washington, meaning Donald Trump and the nation’s other major political players won’t be able to watch.
The company had previously said it will refuse to lift the suspension of Kimmel’s show on its stations ‘until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability’.
The broadcaster also called on Kimmel to issue a ‘direct apology to the Kirk family’ and to make a ‘meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA [a conservative college campus group founded by Kirk].’
‘Mr Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,’ Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith said in the announcement.
‘We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities.’
Reaction largely went across partisan lines as the news made it out of Kimmel’s comeback Tuesday.
In MAGA circles, the move was largely derided, with Megyn Kelly writing: ‘Must be nice to be a leftist. “Cancellation” lasts 5 nights and you’re right back under klieg lights. On the right you’re underground.’
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh slammed liberal hypocrisy: ‘Kimmel’s show was put on pause for like 3 days and yet leftists will look us dead in the eyes and tell us that this was a greater attack on free speech than shooting and killing Charlie Kirk.’
Scott Jennings of CNN honed in on how the FCC wasn’t mentioned in Disney’s explanation for initially suspending Kimmel.
‘So basically his employer suspended him for being an insensitive prick, and we don’t live in an authoritarian regime? Got it’, he said.
Liberals, on the other hand, were in a celebratory mood, with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett shouting it was a ‘WIN’ to get the host back while also suggesting Trump was senile.
Zohran Mamdani, the socialist who won the Democrat nomination for Mayor of New York City, had cancelled a town hall with the ABC affiliate in New York over the suspension.
‘Last week, Disney/ABC caved to Trump administration pressure. Millions of Americans helped them find their backbone. Whether you watch Jimmy Kimmel or not, today’s decision is a victory for free speech’, he said.
Mamdani added that his team have reached out to the affiliate – which is not owned by Sinclair – to get the town hall up and running again.
California Governor Gavin Newsom used the news to take a shot at FCC head Brendan Carr.
‘Thank you to everyone but @BrendanCarrFCC. This is a win for free speech everywhere.’
Libertarian journalist Billy Binion noted what conservatives had created from protesting Kimmel.
‘Brendan Carr turned Jimmy Kimmel into a martyr. His ratings were sinking. Now a lot of people are talking about & rooting for a comic whom they previously did not care about at all. Great job’, he said.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be back on the air on Tuesday night, less than a week after his suspension for controversial comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
In a statement, ABC parent company Disney said it would ‘return the show on Tuesday’.
Kimmel had been suspended since Wednesday, after the host said that ‘the MAGA gang’ was attempting to portray the suspect in Kirk’s assassination ‘as anything other than one of them’.
‘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’, Disney’s statement said.
‘It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.
‘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.’
No further details were provided.
Kimmel’s controversial comments occurred on his show last Monday.
‘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 with everything they can to score political points from it,’ he 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.’
Kimmel then played a clip of Trump responding to a question about how he was coping with Kirk’s death, before poking fun at the president’s mourning process.
He was reprimanded just two days later for his comments by FCC boss Brendan Carr.
Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson he was considering an investigation into Kimmel and ABC over his remarks on Wednesday.
Within hours, more than a dozen ABC affiliates told the network and Disney it would not be airing Kimmel’s show until the remarks were addressed.
Disney and senior ABC execs then made the call to pull Kimmel’s show ‘indefinitely’.
The two parties had been engaged in talks since, in hopes of finding a way to get the show back on the air.
Carr, during his conversation with Johnson, framed an apology ‘as a very reasonable, minimal step that can be taken’.
No such plans were detailed in Disney’s statement Monday. It remains unclear whether Kimmel will address his comments directly.
Disney co-chairman Dana Walden and chief executive Bob Iger made the call to suspend the host over his on-air comments.
Suspect Tyler Robinson, meanwhile, has been charged with capital murder.
Prosecutors released a slew of text messages and other evidence that appeared to hint at a motive last week
In a text to his transgender partner shortly after the murder, Robinson allegedly said of Kirk: ‘I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.’
In another, he discussed how his father ‘has been pretty die-hard MAGA’ since Trump had been re-elected.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has said the suspect’s ideology ‘was very different than his family’, and that his motivation was rooted in radicalization.
A New York Times report last week detailed White House plans to crack down on a nondescript left-wing network that Trump has suggested radicalized the suspect in the Kirk case.
Trump has also promised to bring racketeering cases against people funding protests linked to such groups.
The Daily Mail has contacted ABC for comment.
