Sinclair, Inc. reversed its commitment to air a documentary on the life of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in a Friday evening time slot normally reserved for repeats of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
The decision was announced late Friday evening, a few hours after the documentary on Kirk was scheduled to air in place of ABC network programming on Sinclair-owned ABC affiliates on the East Coast.
Earlier in the week, Sinclair said it would pre-empt new episodes of Kimmel’s show after criticizing the talk show host for a monologue on Monday in which he implied that the man charged with killing Kirk was politically aligned with supporters of President Donald Trump.
Sinclair didn’t say what it would replace Kimmel’s show with on Wednesday or Thursday evening, but vowed to run a special about Kirk on Friday evening, and offered the show to other ABC affiliates across the country.
After Sinclair and another broadcaster, Nexstar Media Group, issued its condemnations, ABC’s parent company Disney put Kimmel’s show on indefinite hiatus. Episodes of “Celebrity Family Feud” have aired in place of Kimmel’s show in the 11:35 p.m. time slot (10:35 p.m. Central/Mountain Time).
On Friday evening, viewers of Sinclair’s local ABC affiliates who were expecting to see the much-publicized documentary about Kirk were greeted by the Steve Harvey-hosted game show instead.
In a statement released on social media, a Sinclair spokesperson said the broadcaster made the decision to offer ABC network programming on its affiliates instead of the Kirk special, which was posted to YouTube.
“Tonight, Sinclair will continue to air ABC network programming as scheduled in the late-night time period,” the Sinclair spokesperson said. “The Charlie Kirk special will instead be available on The National News Desk’s YouTube channel, ensuring viewers can continue to enjoy ABC programming while also providing full access to the special online.”
Sinclair intends to air the Kirk documentary on all of its owned or operated TV stations over the weekend.
In its earlier statement, Sinclair went further than Nexstar in its criticism of Kimmel, demanding the talk show host make a “meaningful” financial commitment to Kirk’s non-profit Turning Point USA and apologize to Kirk’s widow.
Sinclair said it won’t return Kimmel’s show to its ABC affiliates “until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.”
Sinclair operates around 30 ABC-affiliated stations, and Nexstar owns or operates another 30 or so. Between the two of them, Sinclair and Nexstar own or operate slightly more than one-quarter of all ABC-affiliated stations in the country.
The broadcasters’ criticism of ABC and Kimmel came just hours after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized the network for allowing Kimmel to perform his monologue without repercussions. His criticism came two days after the episode in question aired.
“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.”
The veiled threat apparently rattled both broadcasters, who have major business-related transactions that are pending because they require FCC approval. On Thursday, a Nexstar spokesperson said their decision to pull Kimmel’s show was not influenced by their pending merger with peer broadcaster TEGNA, which is valued at over $6 billion.
The Desk asked publicists for Nexstar and Sinclair if their ABC affiliates received any complaints about the monologue on Tuesday — one day after it aired on ABC, and one day before Carr’s public grievance — but those e-mails went unreturned.
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Read more:
- ABC pulls “Jimmy Kimmel Live” amid threats from FCC chairman
- Nexstar confirms plan to acquire TEGNA for $6.2 billion
- Law firm files FCC complaint against TV station over Kimmel monologue
- Trump urges FCC to pull TV station licenses over negative coverage
- Broadcasters who criticized Jimmy Kimmel have deals pending before FCC
