Broadcasting company Sinclair, Inc. said on Sept. 22 that it would hold off airing comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show amid ongoing controversy over his remarks about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate news stations and replacing it with news programming,” Sinclair said in a post to social media. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
The announcement came on the same day that ABC said it would be returning Kimmel’s show to air, after a brief suspension in response to his comments on Kirk’s shooter.
“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,” Kimmel said during a recent show. MAGA stands for President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” policy agenda.
In an interview with Fox News, FBI Director Kash Patel said that the family of suspected shooter Tyler Robinson said he subscribed to a left-wing ideology. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also indicated an ideological motive, noting that bullet casings were found with messages like “Hey Fascist” And “Bella Ciao,” which is a lyric for an Italian anti-fascist song.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said it felt Kimmel’s comments were “ill-timed” and “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,” a statement from the company read.
Kimmel was one of many to face adverse employment actions after controversial comments about Kirk’s assassination. Another media outlet, MSNBC, fired one of its contributors over comments he made immediately following the shooting.
The fallout from Kirk’s assassination has also sparked debate about free speech.
Before Kimmel’s suspension, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said the show host’s comments could be construed as intentionally misleading people. Carr also said ABC has a license from the agency and an obligation to operate in the public interest, and indicated that the agency would take some kind of action if ABC didn’t.
When ABC suspended Kimmel’s show, critics accused Carr of pressuring the broadcasting network into making the decision.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Carr’s comments were the reason for Kimmel’s suspension.
“It was a decision that was made by ABC because Jimmy Kimmel chose to knowingly lie to his audience on his program about the death of a highly respected man when our country is in a state of mourning,” she told Fox News.
Fellow late-night hosts, like CBS’s Stephen Colbert, took Kimmel’s side. A long list of celebrities—including actors Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, and dozens of others—also signed onto a letter criticizing Kimmel’s suspension and the Trump administration.
“Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after the government threatened a private company with retaliation, marking a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation,” the letter read.
“In an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board.”
Zachary Stieber and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
