Both Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group have announced that they will preempt the airing of Jimmy Kimmel’s show tonight after ABC Disney lifted the left-wing host’s suspension.
ABC suspended Kimmel “indefinitely” last week after the host appeared to deliberately mislead the public about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Disney announced on Monday that it had decided to reinstate “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to its broadcast schedule, with the show returning on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
“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,” Disney said in a statement Monday. “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.”
Sinclair, which owns, operates, or provides services to 294 TV stations, announced Monday evening that it would air alternative news programming in place of Kimmel’s show.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” the company stated. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
Likewise, Nexstar announced Tuesday morning that’s it’s stations will be airing other programming during Kimmel’s time slot. Nexstar owns 197 television stations across the United States.
“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,” the company said. “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.”
Together, Nexstar and Sinclair reach approximately 60 percent of American television households.
Kimmel, whose rating have been on a steady decline since 2015, is expected to double down on his comments from his September 15, opening monologue, in which he suggested Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, was a MAGA Republican.
“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 had said, before going on to ridicule President Trump for not looking grief-stricken enough in public appearances.
All of the evidence that has emerged since the assassination points to Robinson being, as Utah Governor Spencer Cox put it, “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”
Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in an interview Wednesday that Kimmel should be suspended for deliberately misleading the public.
“In some quarters, there’s a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature” of the assassination, Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson. He added that Kimmel’s remarks appeared to be an attempt to “play into the narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican-motivated person.”
“If that’s what happened here with his conduct, that is really really sick,” he said.
Carr noted on Tuesday that Democrats have been trying to blame him for Kimmel’s suspension, when it was the decision of Disney and their local TV stations.
“Those businesses decided that, in their view, a suspension made sense,” he explained on X.
“Notably, this is the first time recently that any local TV stations have pushed back on a national programmer like Disney. And that is a good thing because we want want empowered local TV stations,” he added. “After all, local TV stations—not the national programmers—have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities.”