TV stations refuse to air ‘insensitive’ Kimmel’s show after ABC lifts suspension

Local TV stations say they will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! despite Disney-owned ABC bringing back the comedian’s late-night show – a week after he was suspended for comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Nexstar and Sinclair, which together run dozens of stations affiliated to ABC, said they would continue to replace the show with regular programming on Tuesday.

“Mr Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair’s vice-chairman Jason Smith said.

The liberal comedian’s show was yanked off air last week after his monologue about the shooting of Kirk caused uproar.

Nextstar, one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the US, said in a statement on Tuesday: “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.

“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.”

Nexstar is currently trying to close a $6.2 billion deal to acquire its rival Tegna, which would require a green light from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the US broadcasting regulator.

Earlier on Monday, Sinclair said it would 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,” it said in a statement.

Nexstar and Sinclair together control more than 20% of ABC’s affiliated television stations, according to the New York Times.

Jimmy Kimmel posted online for the first time since being taken off the air, sharing an image on Instagram of him with the late TV writer and activist Norman Lear.

Lear, who created the sitcoms All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Maude, was known for taking on societal issues in his shows.

Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! will feature Hollywood actor Glen Powell as well as several well-known celebrities, according to ABC.

British singer Yungblud will be the musical guest for Kimmel’s return episode.

Kimmel said in his monologue on 15 September that US President Donald Trump and his allies were “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and trying to “score political points from it”.

He also likened Trump’s reaction to the influencer’s murder to “how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish”.

The chairman of the FCC, who was appointed by Trump, accused Kimmel of misleading viewers because officials had said the 22-year-old man accused of murdering Kirk in Utah was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology”.

Disney, which owns the US broadcast network that airs Jimmy Kimmel Live!, announced on Monday that the show would return.

It said it had suspended the show because “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,” Disney said.

Jimmy Kimmel’s return to the airwaves coincides with a price hike on four of Disney’s streaming plans.

The comic’s suspension followed threats by the federal TV regulator to revoke ABC’s broadcast licence, sparking a nationwide debate.

Critics decried the move as censorship and attacked ABC and its parent company Disney for appearing to bow to pressure from the Trump administration.

On Monday, hundreds of celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro signed a letter backing Kimmel, and called his suspension a “dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation”.

Trump had welcomed Kimmel’s suspension and suggested some TV networks should have their licences “taken away” for negative coverage of the White House.

On Friday, police arrested a man for firing a gun into the lobby of an ABC news affiliate in Sacramento, California.

Federal prosecutors found a note in his car saying “they’re next”, which investigators said they believe referred to Trump administration officials.