Will ABC bring Jimmy Kimmel back — or will it kick him off the air for good?
As of Friday morning, there was no official indication one way or the other, after Kimmel and his reps were said to have met with Disney execs on Thursday afternoon to discuss his status. But what’s clear is ABC faces a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation given the inflamed passions on all sides of this situation, triggered by Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk.
If ABC goes down the path of bringing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back, the network and parent Disney risk aggravating conservatives who have called for Kimmel’s head, including President Trump and his attack dog pulling the sled at the FCC, chairman Brendan Carr.
On the other hand, if ABC chooses to part ways with Kimmel, it will be condemned by those on the left as caving to Trump’s pressure — and portrayed as ABC and Disney abandoning any commitment to First Amendment principles. Kimmel’s suspension has prompted criticism from numerous Hollywood guilds and protests in L.A. and New York. Disney already has been trashed for what critics perceive as the media giant’s kowtowing to Trump by agreeing to pay a settlement of $15 million to the president (plus $1 million in legal fees) after ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos asserted incorrectly in March 2024 on air that Trump had been found liable in a court case for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Legal experts said ABC had a winnable case.
In short, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden will be met with months — or years — of fury whichever course they take. Consumers have already threatened to boycott Disney’s theme parks and cancel their Disney+ or Hulu subscriptions to protest Kimmel’s benching.
In the past, TV personalities who have made controversial comments or jokes, including David Letterman and Samantha Bee, have been able to recover their standing (and on-air jobs) with well-worded apologies. But with Kimmel, the situation may be irreconcilable.
Many on the right have already been talking about Kimmel as if he’s already been axed, including Trump. Kimmel was “fired because of bad ratings more than anyone else,” Trump said at a press conference in the U.K. Thursday, adding that Kimmel said “a horrible thing about a gentlemen called Charlie Kirk.”
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Kimmel didn’t comment directly about Kirk himself on the Monday episode of his show. Here’s what Kimmel said on the show Sept. 15: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize the kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The problem: MAGA supporters interpreted that as Kimmel saying Kirk’s assassin was “one of them.” Also problematic was that officials had already said the Kirk suspect had a “leftist ideology.”
But what also appears to have angered the MAGA-sphere was that Kimmel mocked Trump’s response to a reporter’s question on the White House grounds about how the president was “holding up” after the assassination of Kirk. Kimmel played a clip of Trump responding, “I think very good. And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They’ve just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years.” Upon which Kimmel said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction,” Kimmel said. “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”
Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, who hosted the interview with Carr that led to Kimmel’s suspension by ABC, posted on X: “2 years ago. Jimmy Kimmel: ‘I’m telling you right now Donald Trump is going to jail.’ He is now cancelled and unemployed.”
If it turns out Kimmel is not actually being “canceled,” the MAGA gang will, it’s safe to say, become apoplectic.
A key part of the narrative in the Kimmel crisis has been the explicit threat the FCC’s Carr made against ABC and its affiliates if they didn’t they didn’t “take action” on Kimmel (i.e., take his show off the air). “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. 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,” Carr said on Johnson’s podcast. Following Carr’s comments, TV station groups Nexstar Media and Sinclair both announced they were dropping “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” immediately. Nexstar’s pending $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna requires the FCC’s approval, but the company said Carr’s comments about Kimmel did not influence its decision to pull the show.
Some congressional Democrats have called for Carr to resign, alleging he improperly used his position at the FCC to exert pressure on TV broadcasters to blacklist programming Carr doesn’t like — tantamount to the U.S. government abridging First Amendment rights. The perception is that Nexstar and Sinclair are trying to curry favor with Carr in hopes he can eliminate the agency’s ownership cap. The FCC in June launched an initiative seeking public comment on whether to “modify, retain or eliminate” the 39% national audience reach cap on local TV ownership.
Trump ratcheted up the temperature Thursday by warning that the FCC might revoke licenses of broadcasters who criticize him, which would be a clear attempt by the government to suppress speech. “They give me only bad press,” he said, claiming that 97% of broadcast news coverage is “against me.” “They’re getting a license. I think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy. So we’ll see.” Note that there is no national “license” for ABC; the FCC grants licenses to local broadcasters, so how the Trump administration would carry out a campaign to punish stations that broadcast news coverage the president disfavors is unclear.
But for ABC, from a business perspective, it doesn’t matter why Nexstar (32 ABC affiliates) and Sinclair (38 ABC affiliates, including WJLA in Washington, D.C.) have boycotted Kimmel. Those two companies represent about one-third of ABC’s national stations, and ratings and ad dollars would suffer if those affiliates refuse to carry Kimmel going forward.
Nexstar president of broadcasting Andrew Alford said Wednesday that the company’s ABC affiliates would pull Kimmel’s show to “let cooler heads prevail.” That suggested Nexstar might consider reinstating “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
But Sinclair, which is known for its conservative politics, has issued demands that would be inconceivable for Kimmel to agree to. Sinclair said Kimmel must apologize to Kirk’s family and send “a meaningful personal donation” to them as well as Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded that advocates for conservative politics in high schools and colleges.
Sinclair said it 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.” On Friday, Sinclair plans to replace the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” timeslot with a Charlie Kirk tribute special on its ABC affiliate stations.
From Variety US