One day after ABC announced it would lift Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, Nexstar announced that it would preempt episodes of "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
Nexstar joins Sinclair in preempting episodes of the late-night TV show. Nexstar owns over 30 ABC stations, including affiliates in Nashville, Salt Lake City and Richmond, Virginia. Sinclair also owns about 30 ABC affiliates.
"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," Nexstar said in a statement. "We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we share."
Nexstar noted that Kimmel's program would be available through streaming services.
Kimmel is returning to his late-night show on Tuesday after it was pulled by ABC last week over comments he made regarding the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, issued the following statement on Monday: "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. 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."
During a monologue last week, 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."
RELATED STORY | What we know about Jimmy Kimmel’s show being pulled indefinitely from ABC
By Wednesday afternoon, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr was threatening to take action.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead," Carr said on The Benny Show, a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
Within hours, two local media companies — Nexstar and Sinclair — announced they would not air Kimmel's show on their ABC-affiliated stations. Statements from the companies called his comments offensive, inappropriate and insensitive. In a separate post, Sinclair also called for Kimmel to make a personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.
Facing the loss of distribution and criticism, ABC followed suit, pre-empting Kimmel's show on all ABC stations indefinitely, including those owned by The E.W. Scripps Company, the parent company of Scripps News Group.
Kimmel's guests for his first show back will include Glen Powell and Sarah McLachlan.
