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Credit: Disney/ABCMonday afternoon, Disney backed down and allowed suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to return to his show on Tuesday. However, not everyone in America can watch his triumphant return to the airwaves.
Sinclair Broadcast Group just announced that it will preempt Kimmel’s show and instead put “news programming. In a statement, Sinclair described talks with Disney for Kimmel’s return to its airwaves as “ongoing.”
Nexstar was the first broadcasting group to tell ABC it would preempt Kimmel’s show. In contrast, Sinclair did not immediately tell Disney it would do so. It called Kimmel’s remarks “inappropriate” and called on the FCC to take “immediate action” to address network control over local stations.
It started last Wednesday morning when Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr told a podcast that broadcasters should “stop airing Kimmel’s show,” after his remarks about Kirk. Carr made a not-so-veiled threat to broadcasters, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Moments after Carr made his remarks, Nexstar, the largest station group owner in the country, announced that it was pulling Kimmel from its ABC-affiliated networks. According to Rolling Stone, executives at Disney, ABC, and its affiliated stations gathered for a meeting after Nexstar’s decision, where many of the executives in attendance did not believe that Kimmel had said anything wrong.
Despite that, Disney caved to the pressure from Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest owner of ABC affiliates in the country, to pull Kimmel from the air. Sinclair has said that it will not return Kimmel to its stations until “formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” and until Kimmel makes a direct apology to the Kirk Family, and for the network makes a significant donation to the family and Turning Point U.S.A.
Sinclair is known for its conservative leanings and owns 294 stations nationwide. Sinclair owns the ABC affiliates in Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Tulsa, San Antonio, and Seattle, as well as dozens of other markets across the country.
Disney faced immediate backlash after Kimmel’s suspension, including mass protests and people cancelling their Disney streaming services. Today, the ACLU sent Disney a letter signed by 400 actors, including Tom Hanks, defending free speech.
While Disney has reinstated Kimmel, it appears that this fight is not finished, as Sinclair wants more from Kimmel over his remarks. The second-largest owner of ABC affiliates, Nexstar, has not announced if it will air Kimmel’s show.
What do you think of Sinclair keeping Kimmel off its airwaves? Let us know in the comments.