The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates dozens of ABC affiliates, will continue to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! despite the talk show’s return to the network.
The company issued an announcement on Monday, September 22, several hours after news broke that the Walt Disney Company — the owner of ABC — is putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air starting Tuesday, September 23.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” Sinclair said in press release. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
Sinclair had previously demanded that Kimmel apologize to Charlie Kirk’s family and “make a meaningful personal donation” to them as well as to the late commentator’s conservative nonprofit.
Earlier Monday, Disney released a statement explaining its decision to lift a days-long suspension of Kimmel, 57, for his late-night commentary about Kirk and President Donald Trump.
“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,” the company stated. “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.”
An ABC spokesperson told Us Weekly last week that Kimmel’s show would be “preempted indefinitely.”
The controversial decision sparked an outpouring of Kimmel supporters defending the host online. On Monday, the ACLU released an open letter signed by 400 celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Selena Gomez.
John Oliver defended Jimmy Kimmel in the latest episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, calling his suspension a “clear case of the government trying to censor speech.” Oliver, 48, urged ABC and parent company Disney to “stand by Kimmel and his staff” amid what he characterized as politically motivated pressure to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! […]
“We the people must never accept government threats to our freedom of speech. Efforts by leaders to pressure artists, journalists and companies with retaliation for their speech strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free country,” the letter began, ending with, “Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power — because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”
The decision to suspend Kimmel came after Nexstar Media, which owns multiple ABC affiliate stations, reportedly threatened to remove Kimmel from the weeknight lineup. The company told Variety in a statement last week that they “strongly” objected to “recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk.”
Sinclair oversees 38 ABC stations, including one serving Washington, D.C.
Kimmel addressed Kirk’s death and his accused killer, Tyler Robinson, during his monologue after the controversial podcaster was fatally shot on September 10.
“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 on September 15. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
