Nexstar Refuses To Air Kimmel’s Return To ABC Over Kirk Controversy
Nexstar Media Group announced on Tuesday that it will not broadcast “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its ABC stations due to his inaccurate assertion that Charlie Kirk was murdered by a MAGA supporter.
Just one day before the announcement, Sinclair Broadcast Group disclosed that it would preempt the late-night program, despite Disney’s reinstatement of Kimmel.
This implies that the late-night host’s return to the airways on Tuesday will not be broadcast by ABC’s two largest station owners, who are responsible for dozens of local affiliates.
“We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse,” Nexstar said in a statement.
“We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.”
Sinclair, which controls the largest cluster of ABC affiliates, said Monday it would also keep Kimmel off the air.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” the group said on X.
A staffer of Jimmy Kimmel’s diminished team is raising concerns regarding the likelihood that his employer will ever see his late-night show return to the airwaves.
The staffer, who spoke anonymously, criticized President Donald Trump and “MAGA a**hats” for removing Kimmel after the late-night host falsely claimed that the suspect who killed Charlie Kirk was a Trump supporter.
ABC “indefinitely” suspended Kimmel’s program due to the tone-deaf and manifestly false assertion, and the staffer recently stated that any future course of action is uncertain, if not untenable.
“I want to think it will. But I can’t imagine a scenario in which that happens. Even if Jimmy was willing to publicly apologize and donate money to whatever ghoulish conservative group that is demanding it… MAGA people will never be happy. It will never be enough,” they told Rick Ellis for his “Too Much TV” newsletter.
Kimmel has been off the air since Wednesday, when Disney’s head honchos pulled the plug.
“And Disney will look at the situation and decide it’s cheaper to buy out the rest of his contract and replace the show with reruns of Modern Family and Judge Judy. Somehow, they’ll convince themselves the worst is behind them. Until a day or two pass, and they find themselves having to defend Whoopi and the other women of The View. And no one wants to be in that position,” the staffer continued.
Kimmel said during the show, “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.”
Disney co-chair Dana Walden reportedly informed Kimmel that his show was being terminated after the renowned late-night host refused to “kowtow” to the MAGA movement by apologizing for his previous comments.
It’s been a rough week for Kimmel.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said last week on conservative podcaster Benny Johnson’s show that he is weighing an investigation into Kimmel and ABC over the comments. The remarks referred to 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who prosecutors say fatally shot Kirk during a university event in Orem, Utah.
Authorities have described Robinson as holding leftist political views, not ties to the MAGA movement.
“When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible,” Carr told Johnson.
“As you’ve indicated, there are avenues here for the FCC, so there… are some ways in which I need to be a little bit careful because we could be called ultimately to be a judge on some of these claims that come up,” he added.
