FCC chair reacts to ABC affiliates that will continue to keep Jimmy Kimmel off the air

The chair of the FCC is speaking out about some ABC affiliate groups that are refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel Live even though the late-night show is returning.

Brendan Carr, who joined the Federal Communications Commission in January after being nominated by Donald Trump, defended media companies like Sinclair and Nexstar. These groups decided to keep preempting Kimmel’s show on their stations, despite ABC’s parent company, Disney, ending the show’s nationwide suspension.

“This is the first time recently that any local TV stations have pushed back on a national programmer like Disney,” Carr wrote on social media Tuesday. “And that is a good thing because we want empowered local TV stations. After all, local TV stations — not the national programmers — have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meet the needs of their local communities.”

Representatives for ABC and Kimmel did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment on Carr’s remarks.

Carr’s statement came after California State Senator Scott Wiener reacted to Sinclair’s announcement that it would not air Kimmel’s return. Wiener wrote, “Can’t wait to break Sinclair up. Corporate media consolidation doesn’t jibe with democracy. And although Sinclair isn’t a fan of democracy, most people are.”

Carr accused Democrats like Wiener of “projection and distortion,” saying that liberals have “spent years illegally weaponizing government to silence dissent” and that they “want to blame anything other than Disney and their local TV stations for Kimmel’s suspension.”

Before ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension last week, Carr had called on affiliate groups to “step up” and reject ABC’s “garbage” programming. He argued that the show did not serve the public interest after Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer.

“I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to preempt — we are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out,'” he said on The Benny Show.

Soon after, Nexstar and Sinclair announced they would preempt Kimmel’s show. Sinclair demanded that Kimmel apologize and personally donate to Kirk’s family and organization.

Carr praised Nexstar for its decision. “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing,” he wrote on social media. “Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”

Nexstar recently proposed a $6.2 billion acquisition of rival TV company Tegna. If approved, this would create a monopoly of 265 stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching 80 percent of U.S. households. Nexstar currently owns 32 ABC affiliates out of 200. The acquisition would need government approval.

Sinclair has also pushed for deregulation. FCC records show that CEO Chris Ripley met with Carr last month. The company said last month it is exploring the possibility of acquisitions.