‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ returns to Sinclair’s ABC stations on Friday

by

Sinclair Broadcast Group is ending its preemption of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The owner of several major ABC stations, based in Maryland, announced Friday that Jimmy Kimmel’s show will be back on the air right away. The station group had stopped airing the program on September 17th after criticism arose regarding comments made by the host about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Sinclair’s ABC stations include WJLA in Washington, D.C., and KOMO in Seattle.

Jimmy Kimmel’s show was temporarily removed from two television station groups, Sinclair and Nexstar, on the same day the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, criticized a recent segment. In that segment from September 15th, Kimmel stated that Republicans supporting Donald Trump were exploiting the death of John Kirk to gain political advantage and were attempting to distance shooting suspect Tyler Robinson from their political affiliation.

Sinclair Broadcast Group hasn’t explained why it’s bringing the program back after it stopped airing on September 17th. Previously, Sinclair had asked the show’s host to personally apologize to the Kirk family and donate a substantial amount to Turning Point USA before it would continue broadcasting the program.

Hollywood Inc.

As a big fan of late-night talk shows, I was surprised to hear that Nexstar Broadcasting won’t be airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” when it returns tonight. Apparently, they’re not playing ball with Disney, who produces the show on ABC. It’s a bit strange to me, but it means I’ll have to find another way to watch Kimmel!

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, who wasn’t allowed to speak on the record, no compromises were made to resume the program.

The official in charge of broadcast station rules strongly condemned Kimmel’s comments, calling them unacceptable. He urged ABC to take action and warned that the licenses of TV stations could be at risk if the network didn’t respond.

Hollywood Inc.

So, it looks like things are starting to cool down between everyone involved. Apparently, there have been talks happening to try and resolve the issues that started when Jimmy Kimmel made some comments after the tragic death of Charlie Kirk. It’s good to see they’re trying to work things out.

ABC initially cancelled the show, but brought it back on Tuesday. The first episode after its return drew 6.26 million viewers, the highest number ever for its usual 11:35 p.m. timeslot. Kimmel’s opening monologue alone was viewed over 26 million times on platforms like YouTube and other social media sites.

This is a developing story.

Read More

2025-09-26 22:01