Nexstar & Sinclair Stand Firm Against Jimmy Kimmel Return

Update (1135ET): Nexstar on Tuesday said that it would join Sinclair Inc. – another large owner of ABC affiliates – in preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight, after ABC parent company Walt Disney Co. said Kimmel would return to hosting duties following his temporary suspension for lying about the suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination.

The preemptions involve more than 20% of the US market, Bloomberg reports.

Already a cash incinerator, the show will burn even more money now https://t.co/M7BJrWvvcs

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 22, 2025

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Hours after 400 artists signed an ACLU letter in response to Jimmy Kimmel’s firing, the late-night host’s ‘indefinite termination’ for propaganda surrounding the Charlie Kirk assassination has been turned into a week’s vacation.

According to Variety, Disney and ABC are bringing the comedian back to its schedule Tuesday night.

“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,” the company said in a statement. “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.”

Of note, none of the Nexstar or Sinclair affiliates will carry the show.

Despite Kimmel’s return, it is not immediately clear if his show will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel’s show on its stations until the late night host apologized for his comments, met with Sinclair representatives and made a donation to Turning Point, the organization that Kirk founded. Sinclair, it should be noted, owns the ABC station in the Washington, D.C., metro area, among other markets.

Nexstar, similarly, could also choose to continue to preempt the show, though of course it would still be accessible online across the country after it runs on ABC. -Hollywood Reporter

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. pic.twitter.com/beGC6VID2x

— Sinclair, Inc. (@WeAreSinclair) September 22, 2025

Kimmel’s show was pulled last Wednesday after the host said that Charlie Kirk assassination suspect Tyler Robinson was ‘MAGA’ – when he’s very clearly not based on what we know. In response, FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC affiliate licenses over the comments, which he described in a podcast interview with host Benny Johnson as “the sickest conduct possible.”

As The Blaze‘s Auron Macintyre opines: “ABC is putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air because terrorism works in America.“

ABC is putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air because terrorism works in America

That’s it, the message is terrorism is the only valid political action https://t.co/LHdS2i14ip

— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) September 22, 2025

Guess who predicted it?