Update: “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is returning to ABC on Tuesday, Sept. 23. But one major ABC affiliate refuses to air the show on its stations.
Sinclair Inc. is refusing to air the show on its local ABC affiliate stations in major markets. It will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! with another show instead.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” Sinclair Inc. said in a statement on Monday.
Among the ABC affiliate stations Sinclair Inc. owns is WJLA, the news station that broadcasts in the Washington, D.C. area.
“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith said.
“We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities.”
ABC suspended Kimmel’s late-night show over comments he made about Charlie Kirk‘s death.
The suspension sparked a massive boycott movement that resulted in millions of people canceling their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions.
Disney decided to bring Kimmel back after the company lost $4 billion in value overnight.
“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,” a spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company said in a statement to CNN. “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.”
Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar, which operates 23 ABC affiliate stations, said Kimmel’s comments “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”
Alford has not commented on whether his stations will air Kimmel’s show.
Kimmel’s contract with Disney expires in May 2026. He has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2003.
Kirk was fatally shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on Sept. 10.
His killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested on Sept. 11, and charged with capital murder. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich tweeted on Wednesday night: “Welcome to Consequence Culture. Normal, common sense Americans are no longer taking the b———- and companies like ABC are finally willing to do the right and reasonable thing.”
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