The Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Monday that it will not air Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night return Tuesday night across its dozens of ABC affiliates until “formal discussions” are held with the network regarding “professionalism and accountability.”
Further, Sinclair is calling on Kimmel to apologize to the family of conservative leader Charlie Kirk.
Sinclair issued a statement hours after ABC parent company Disney announced “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return from hiatus Tuesday night. Disney yanked his show last week over comments regarding Kirk’s assassination.
“Sinclair will not lift the suspension of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” the statement read.
Sinclair operates 38 ABC affiliate stations.
“Sinclair also calls upon Mr. Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, we ask Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.
“Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.”
Earlier Monday, Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show” and a spokesman for TPUSA, encouraged Sinclair and Nexstar not to carry Kimmel’s Tuesday show.
“Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmell [sic] back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nextstar [sic] and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice,” Kolvet said in an X post.
In his monologue last Monday, Kimmel — who has often targeted Trump and his allies — criticized what he called the “MAGA gang,” accusing it of “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.”
Kimmel’s remarks in his monologue drew immediate outrage from conservatives, who argued that the late-night host had crossed a moral line at a time of national grief. Many accused him of mocking Kirk’s death and trivializing the gravity of a political assassination.
“The Walt Disney Company said in a statement Monday that production was suspended ‘to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.’ The company added, ‘We felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,'” NBC News reported.
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