Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended “indefinitely” last Wednesday by ABC (owned by Disney).
The suspension was triggered by controversial comments Kimmel made in a monologue. He criticized the MAGA movement’s response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which drew backlash.
The FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, and some large station groups (notably Sinclair and Nexstar) had threatened consequences or preempted the show because of those comments.
Disney/ABC announced that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to air on Tuesday night, after several days of talks.
The network said the reason for the earlier suspension was to avoid inflaming a tense situation and because some comments were judged "ill‑timed and thus insensitive."
Not all ABC affiliate stations will show the return. Specifically, Sinclair has said that its ABC‑owned or -affiliated stations will not air that episode; they plan to run news programming instead.
There has been significant public support for Kimmel: over 400 artists signed an open letter in his support, protests were held, and free speech groups commented.
There’s tension between free speech vs. corporate or regulatory pressure. Some view the action (suspension) as censorship or intimidation.
It’s not clear whether stations like Nexstar will resume airing the show.
It’s also not known how Kimmel will address this upon his return — whether he’ll apologize, tone down certain content, or make any statement about the backlash/regulatory threats.
0 Comments