Sinclair is bringing Jimmy Kimmel back into the air on 38 ABC TV stations after pre-empting the late-night TV show in protest of Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer.
In a statement, Sinclair said he would end the opening goal of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The show will then return on Friday evening at ABC affiliate in Sinclair. The September 26th show aired a rerun of the show on Tuesday, featuring Kimmel’s return after ABC temporarily halted.
“We understand that not everyone agrees with our decisions about programming, but defending free speech while demanding broadcasters be aired with specific content is simply contradictory,” Sinclair said.
Sinclair’s ABC stations include WJLA (Washington, DC), KOMO (Seattle), KDNL (St. Louis), KATV (Little Rock, Ark), KTUL (Tulsa, Oklahoma), WTVC (Chattanooga, Tennessee) and WCIV (SC).
That was an important aspect for Sinclair, who tends to be conservative, with Kimmel requesting an apology to Kirk’s family for his remarks and requesting Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization to make a “meaningful” personal donation.
Kimmel has not made any such contributions publicly and has not specifically apologized to the Kirk family. In an emotional monologue at his show on Tuesday, he said, “It was never my intention to reveal the murder of a young man. There will be nothing interesting about it,” he said, “I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and sought compassion.
At the time of this writing, Nexstar, another large station group that separated Kimmel from 32 ABC affiliates in his comments, has not said there is a possibility that the show will resume airing. (Updated: Nexstar announced the day Kimmel also resumed airing on Friday night.) In a statement Wednesday (September 24) Nexstar said it continues to assess the situation of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” On local TV stations affiliated with ABC, the show engages in productive discussions with executives at Walt Disney Company, focusing on reflecting and respecting the diverse interests of the communities we serve.
“The goal of this whole process was to ensure that programming relies on the widest audience possible. We take responsibility as a local broadcaster seriously and respect our obligations to national network programming while providing programming that serves the benefits of our community.”
The Station Group statement continued. “Last week we received thoughtful feedback from community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives from viewers, advertisers and community leaders, and witnessed troubling violence, including a potential incident at ABC Affiliate Station in Sacramento.
“In a continuous and constructive discussion with ABC, Sinclair proposed measures to enhance accountability, audience feedback and community dialogue, including an independent ombudsman throughout the network. These proposals were proposed as a joint effort between ABC affiliates and the ABC network, and our decision to preempt this program is independent of government interactions.
“As a company rooted in local stations, Sinclair is committed to serving our community with programming that reflects priorities, gains trust and encourages constructive dialogue. We look forward to continuing to work with ABC to provide content that is useful to our wider community,” the statement concluded.
The reversal comes after Baltimore-based Sinclair announced on September 17 that he would preempt Kimmel’s show indefinitely, and two days ago said the host was trying to score political points on the suspect charged with the murder of conservative activist Kirk. It was from an ABC affiliate who came right after Nexter saying it was pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The announcements of both the two station groups followed the threat that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr would pursue a “news distortion” complaint against the ABC Station, unless Kimmel was fired. The decision of Sinclair and Nexstar was seen as an attempt to curry favor with Kerr and the Trump administration. As Sinclair said in a statement Friday, the decision to black Kimmel was “independent of government interactions and influence.” Nexstar also denies that Carr’s comments had an impact on his decision to preempt Kimmel.
Also, on September 17th, ABC said, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” It will be suspended “indefinitely”. Disney brought Kimmel back on Tuesday, September 23rd, and the show provided a TV rating for Bofour to rank even the Sinclair and Nexter boycott as the highest-rated episode to date.
In a September 17 statement, Sinclair said the host should apologise to Kirk’s family and send “a meaningful personal donation” and Turning Point USA before considering returning Kimmel to the air. Ultimately, these requests looked like non-starters at Kimmel and Disney camp.
