FCC, Nexstar, Sinclair Cowardly Run Jimmy Kimmel Off ABC Over Innocuous Statements About Kirk Killer

by Julian Spivey

Photo: ABC

 
For the second time in the last few months, I find myself at a loss for words over something that happened regarding a late-night talk show.
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I probably shouldn’t have been shocked by the news that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” has been pulled “indefinitely” from ABC after all, when the news broke a few months ago that CBS would be ending “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in May of 2026, I said I felt like ABC would do the same with Kimmel’s show (his contract, like Colbert’s, ends then).

But it was the reason why Kimmel’s show has been, at least temporarily, suspended that surprised me. It was for comments he made on his Monday night (September 15) show about the way the conservative press, politicians, etc., had handled the reveal of Charlie Kirk’s murderer – essentially hoping that the killer would be anybody who didn’t resemble them.

Kimmel said: “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.”

That was it. That inoffensive, and accurate in my assessment, statement, which had nothing to do with Kirk in itself, was enough to start the ball rolling to get Kimmel’s show removed from the air.

On Wednesday (Sept. 17), the Nexstar Media Group Inc. said that it would stop airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on its 32 ABC affiliates.

Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said: “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national discourse.”
Sure, Andrew. Sounds like bullshit to me.

Later in the day, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appeared on a YouTube episode hosted by commentator Benny Johnson, and seemingly threatened ABC and Disney to decide on Kimmel’s show.

He said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. There’s calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this.”

The “we can do this the easy way or the hard way” is clearly a “the ball is in your court” type threat to ABC/Disney, and ABC/Disney cowardly made the decision to sideline the show “indefinitely.”

After the decision to sideline “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the Sinclair Broadcast Group decided to get in on the fun, too. Sinclair has decided to use Kimmel’s timeslot on Friday to air a tribute special to Kirk on its ABC affiliates, which includes my local one in Little Rock, Ark. And, furthermore, Sinclair stated its affiliates wouldn’t resume airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live” until “we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.” The company has also called for Kimmel to issue a direct apology to Kirk’s family and to make a personal donation to both the family and Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA. That seems an awful lot like an ultimatum Kimmel must follow to get back on Sinclair’s affiliate stations.

So, it seems the FCC, Nexstar and Sinclair have done what they can to force Kimmel off of television, and ABC/Disney cowardly accepted the demands for fear of being fined or losing money with the show not airing on many of its affiliates.

If something as innocuous as what Kimmel said, which drew the ire of the FCC and these media companies, can get him removed from television, we are fucked as a country. If we’re not allowed to differ in our opinions on what’s going on in this country without the threat of losing our jobs, we are simply fucked.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Kimmel and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” going forward, but I have a bad feeling we have seen the last of him and his show on ABC, and honestly, at this point, it may be of his own decision to walk away from a company that didn’t stand up for him when it should have.