Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the country’s largest owner of ABC affiliate stations, announced it will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live when the show returns on Tuesday.
“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,” the company said in a social media post on Monday.
This follows Sinclair’s earlier statement that host Jimmy Kimmel would stay off the air “until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.”
ABC had suspended the show after Kimmel made comments about Charlie Kirk following the conservative activist’s death. Sinclair argued that Kimmel needed to “issue a direct apology” and also “make a meaningful personal donation” to Kirk’s family before being allowed back on air.
During the Sept. 15 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel spoke about Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused in Kirk’s killing. He said, “We had 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 with everything they can to score political points from it.”
Two days later, ABC suspended the series, which is now in its 23rd season. Protests quickly followed, with many weighing in on Kimmel’s remarks.
On Sept. 17, President Donald Trump said that after CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and ABC suspended Kimmel, other late-night hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers could be next.
Trump’s FCC chair, Brendan Carr, also promised to “look into” ABC’s The View, a talk show whose cohosts have often been outspoken critics of the president.
