Nexstar Media Group Joins Sinclair In Announcing That They Will Not Be Airing Jimmy Kimmel When He Returns Tonight

Jimmy Kimmel is back…but many won’t be able to watch him.

Yesterday, ABC announced that the embattled late night show would be returning tonight, a week after production was suspended following controversial comments Kimmel made in the wake of the assassination of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk.

During his show last Monday, Kimmel seemed to imply without evidence that the shooter was right-wing or “MAGA.”

“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.”

Now, from everything we know about the shooter, who has been identified as 22-year old Tyler Robinson, he was left-leaning and had made comments calling Kirk “full of hate.” He was also reportedly in a relationship with his transgender roommate, so he doesn’t exactly sound like your typical Trump supporter.

But you know how it goes when these things happen: Everybody rushes to try to accuse the shooter of being on the other side, regardless of what the evidence actually shows, which seems to be exactly what Kimmel did.

Well his comments not only landed Kimmel criticism online, but they also caught the attention of FCC chair Brendan Carr, who called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick” and said there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and parent company, Disney.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”

And it didn’t take long for companies to take action. Nexstar Media Group, the largest television station owner in the country (which also happens to be seeking government approval for a merger with another broadcast company, Tegna) announced on Wednesday that their ABC affiliates would be pulling Kimmel from its lineup:

“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”

Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, also called Kimmel’s comments offensive and not reflective of the company, while saying that continuing to give Kimmel a platform is “not in the public interest.”

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.

Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

And Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of ABC affiliates in the country, also announced that they would be pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely from their stations. The company said they would not lift Kimmel’s suspension “until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” while urging the host to issue a public apology to the Kirk family and make a donation to Turning Point USA.

The consequences for Kimmel ignited a firestorm and caused plenty of debate over free speech and government censorship, but ABC announced earlier today that the show would be returning tomorrow after reports that the network wanted Kimmel to tone down the politics.

In a statement, the Walt Disney Company said that Kimmel’s comments were “ill-timed” and “insensitive,” but that after discussing with Kimmel, the show would be returning to air following what amounted to a four day suspension.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt 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.”

But apparently the station owners aren’t ready to move on quite yet.

Sinclair, which owns 39 ABC affiliates across the country, announced yesterday that they would not air Kimmel’s show when it returned tonight, and would instead preempt the broadcast with news content:

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will 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.”

And this morning, Nexstar announced that they would follow suit:

“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.

In the meantime, we note that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.”

Nexstar owns 32 ABC affiliates, and together with Sinclair the two companies make up about a quarter of ABC’s reach across the country.