The Walt Disney Company has suspended the airing of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on its broadcast network ABC amid criticism by the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission about comments made during a recent monologue.
On Monday, Kimmel delivered a blistering comedic indictment of President Donald Trump’s reaction to the death of conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk by airing a clip that showed Trump discussing the construction of a ballroom at the White House when asked by a reporter about Kirk’s passing.
In the set-up to the segment, Kimmel wrongly implied that Kirk’s suspected murderer, Tyler Robinson, was politically aligned with the “MAGA gang,” a reference to Trump’s supporters who have embraced the acronym for “Make America Great Again,” a phrase first attributed to former President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
“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,” Kimmel said before leading into the clip of Trump speaking about the ballroom.
During an interview with a YouTuber on Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr — a conservative who was hand-picked by Trump to lead the agency in January — implied the agency would find ways to reprimand Disney if they did not address Kimmel’s remarks.
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Kimmel’s show originates from Los Angeles, and typically tapes around 7 p.m. Eastern Time (4 p.m. local time). When the episode was being filmed, there was rampant speculation about the shooting suspect and his alleged motive.
Immediately after Robinson was apprehended, journalists verified that his family members were registered Republicans whose views closely aligned with Trump’s most-ardent supporters. It wasn’t until Tuesday that prosecutors made public an indictment that suggested Robinson may have been motivated in part by a romantic relationship with his transgender room-mate. Kirk voiced controversial remarks about transgender individuals in recent years.
The information contained in the indictment wasn’t common knowledge when Kimmel delivered his monologue one day earlier, and Kimmel didn’t address the Kirk shooting during his show on Tuesday.
Carr’s comments were enough to convince some broadcast groups that own large numbers of ABC affiliates to complain to the network, and some threatened to pre-empt Kimmel’s programming and replace it with extended local news broadcasts or repeats of syndicated programming, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
By Wednesday evening, two of the largest broadcasters — Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair, Inc. — announced their intentions to pre-empt Kimmel’s show on their local ABC affiliates.
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, the President of Broadcasting at Nexstar, said in a statement. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
In a separate statement, a spokesperson for Sinclair confirmed its ABC affiliates will also not air Kimmel’s show anytime soon.”
“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair’s Vice Chairman Jason Smith said in a statement e-mailed to The Desk. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”
Sinclair said it intends to air a one-hour tribute to Kirk on all of its ABC affiliates this Friday, in the time slot where re-runs of Kimmel’s show are typically aired. The broadcaster has offered the special to all other ABC affiliates as well.
Nexstar and Sinclair’s statements are far from altruistic: Nexstar is moving forward with a $6 billion merger with peer broadcaster TEGNA, and Sinclair is in the process of acquiring a local TV station in upstate New York and is selling five more TV stations to Rincon Broadcasting. Those transactions require the approval of the FCC before they can close.
Carr has already shown a willingness to delay business-related matters involving regulated companies unless they bend to his political will: A proposed merger between Paramount and Skydance Media was delayed for months until Paramount settled a frivolous defamation lawsuit brought by Trump before his second term in office began. Paramount settled the case for $16 million and gave numerous assurances to the FCC about the way it would conduct its business at CBS News. The FCC approved the deal a short time later.
In this instance, Carr appears pleased that ABC affiliate groups are carrying out his wishes.
“Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest,” Carr said in a statement after Nexstar said it would pre-empt Kimmel’s show, but before Sinclair said it would do the same. “While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”
Wednesday evening, a spokesperson at ABC said the company had taken things a step further by suspending Kimmel’s show indefinitely. Kimmel has not been fired, the spokesperson said. It wasn’t clear what ABC plans to air in place of Kimmel’s show.
A copy of Kimmel’s monologue from Tuesday evening was still available on his YouTube channel as of Wednesday evening:
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated a pending business transaction between Sinclair and Rincon Broadcasting. Sinclair is in the process of selling five TV stations to Rincon, not acquiring them.
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