The owners of dozens of U.S. television stations say they will continue to keep Jimmy Kimmel Live! off their airwaves despite Disney announcing the late-night comedian’s show will return from a days-long suspension Tuesday.
Nexstar Media Group, which operates 28 stations affiliated with Disney-owned ABC across the U.S., said Tuesday it will pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel’s show, noting in a statement that the program “will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products.”
“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’s statement said.
“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.”
The statement comes after Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns 38 other ABC affiliates, said Monday it will pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its own stations, replacing the show with news programming.
“Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company said in a statement.
ABC, which suspended Kimmel’s show last Wednesday following criticism of his comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, announced Monday that Kimmel’s show would return after the network had “thoughtful conversations” with the host.
Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan is set to appear on Kimmel’s first show back, publicists for both the musician and her Hulu-distributed Lilith Fair documentary have confirmed.
Disney also announced Tuesday it was increasing subscription costs for its streaming platforms Disney+ and Hulu in the U.S. by between $2 and $7 a month. It did not announce similar price hikes in Canada.
Several consumers said on social media they were cancelling their Disney streaming subscriptions in the wake of Kimmel’s suspension.
The suspension was announced hours after Nexstar said it would pre-empt the show due to Kimmel’s “offensive and insensitive” remarks in the opening monologue of his Sept. 15 broadcast.
Sinclair followed suit and said it would only return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to its affiliate’s airwaves after Kimmel apologizes to Kirk’s family and makes a “meaningful personal donation” to Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA.
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Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, posted on X that “Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make.” He later applauded Sinclair for upholding its decision to block Kimmel’s show and said affiliates “have every right to demand accountability” from the comedian, who he called “an unrepentant liar.”
Kimmel has not yet addressed his show’s suspension or its return.
Nexstar and Sinclair’s announcements last week came after Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said on a podcast last Wednesday that Kimmel was trying to “directly mislead the American public” and suggested the FCC could take action.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Those remarks set a backlash in motion, with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas saying that Carr acted like “a mafioso.” Hundreds of entertainment luminaries, including Tom Hanks, Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Aniston, signed a letter circulated by the American Civil Liberties Union that called ABC’s move “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”
Since Kimmel’s suspension, however, Carr has framed the situation as an organic uprising of local affiliates against national media companies to control the content they air.
“Notably, this is the first time recently that any local TV stations have pushed back on a national programmer like Disney,” he wrote on X on Tuesday. “And that is a good thing because we want want empowered local TV stations. After all, local TV stations—not the national programmers—have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities.”
Carr has also accused Democrats and critics who say he exerted government pressure to limit Kimmel’s free speech of “distortion” and “projection.”
“Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he’s in because of his ratings, not because of anything that has happened at the federal government level,” Carr said during a conversation at the Concordia Summit in New York on Monday, before Disney announced Kimmel’s return to the air.
Nexstar owns or partners with more than 200 stations in 116 U.S. markets, and owns broadcast networks the CW and NewsNation, as well as the political website The Hill and nearly a third of the Food Network. Its ABC-affiliated stations operate in cities including Nashville, New Orleans, Salt Lake City and smaller markets including Evansville, Ind., and Binghamton, N.Y., among others.
Last month, it announced a $6.2 billion deal to buy TEGNA Inc., which owns 64 other TV stations.
The deal would require the FCC to change rules limiting the number of stations a single company can own. Carr has expressed openness to changing the rule.
Sinclair owns, operates or provides services to 178 TV stations in 81 markets affiliated with all major broadcast networks and owns the Tennis Channel. Its ABC affiliates include stations in Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., Chattanooga, Tennessee, and other cities.
The company has also petitioned the FCC to relax its rules limiting broadcaster ownership of stations.
Disney, meanwhile, needs approval from the Trump administration for its ESPN division to complete an acquisition of the NFL Network.
With files from the Associated Press
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