It was always an open question whether ABC was frightened off by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's shot across the bow or whether the company was responding to the outrage expressed by its network affiliates when they suspended Jimmy Kimmel's show.
As you know, I, and many other conservatives, were unhappy that Carr got involved in the matter, despite his clear legal authority to enforce an FCC regulation that explicitly prohibits spreading falsehoods about crimes and violent acts that threaten to undermine the country. It muddled our free speech message and looked very much like the kind of government pressure the Biden administration and European countries use to silence speech.
Joe Scarborough: "OMG watch out conservatives, what would happen if a Democrat admin went after your speech??"
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 23, 2025
Three hours later: https://t.co/Lfk3cvs9fB pic.twitter.com/BsmrgPZrXp
Well, it sure looks now like the pressure from network affiliates was something ABC/Disney should have taken seriously. The Jimmy Kimmel show already has the network bleeding cash at an alarming rate, and now Kimmel's return will probably double the losses.
#BREAKING: Nexstar says it's ABC stations will continue to not air Jimmy Kimmel.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 23, 2025
Between Nexstar and Sinclair, that means more than half of all ABC stations will not be showing Kimmel's return tonight. https://t.co/FDoOdKDkqs
Sinclair was first out of the gate, announcing that they weren't going to carry Kimmel's show despite his return to the airwaves, and now Nexstar, another major distributor of ABC content on local stations, is following suit. Kimmel may get his show back, but a huge number of local markets will not carry it.
NEWS Nextstar refuses to air Jimmy Kimmel tonight. This is a market reaction, Nextstar slamming Kimmel as “insensitive.” So a total of 66 ABC affiliates won’t air him including Sinclair, their statements indicate personal corporate officials’ outrage at Kimmel. These two cover…
— Elizabeth MacDonald (@LizMacDonaldFOX) September 23, 2025
NEWS Nextstar refuses to air Jimmy Kimmel tonight. This is a market reaction, Nextstar slamming Kimmel as “insensitive.” So a total of 66 ABC affiliates won’t air him including Sinclair, their statements indicate personal corporate officials’ outrage at Kimmel. These two cover about a quarter of ABC’s overall total viewers. For Kimmel, he just lost about a third to 40% of his viewers depending on the quarterly result used.
NEXSTAR ABC AFFILIATES TO CONTINUE PREEMPTING “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!”
Company Will Monitor the Show as it Returns to ABC
IRVING, TX (Sept. 23, 2025)—Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST), today announced that the company’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will continue to preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
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. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve. In the meantime, we note that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.
One great irony is that suddenly, Democrats are outraged at Sinclair (and soon Nexstar) for not bringing Kimmel back to the airwaves, and actually threatening government action in retaliation. So much for their brief anger that the government might bully a private company on matters of speech.
And there it is.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) September 23, 2025
On Kimmel, the Democrats are engaged in nothing more than Projection and Distortion.
Projection because Democrats are the ones that spent years illegally weaponizing government to silence dissent. And it is Democrats that will do it all again—as they are openly… pic.twitter.com/E3XRIvtBOJ
That outrage was always fake, of course. Democrats have spent years bullying private companies to either promote or censor speech, as Google just admitted. You can read all about that in Ed's earlier piece. They outlined the many ways that they buckled to pressure from the Biden administration, including permanently banning creators whom the administration disliked, and promised to reinstate their accounts and quit censoring people.
So since ABC/Disney is bringing back Kimmel, I guess the whole thing about the FCC suppressing free speech and Trump having a “grip over media” was just a psy-op, a bit of left-wing propaganda, and not actually true at all. pic.twitter.com/RIrBFdPMn4
— John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) September 22, 2025
We'll see. No doubt they wouldn't buckle to Trump administration bullying, but I have my doubts that they would push back against a new Democratic Party administration. But I would love to be pleasantly surprised.
Celebrities think it's an assault on free speech for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.
— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) September 19, 2025
But they said nothing when Biden was censoring Americans online for telling the truth.
They're full of it. pic.twitter.com/ikLbrNxVga
Kimmel deserved to be dumped by ABC and its affiliates, but not at the behest of the government, but due to pressure from its viewers. Bringing him back will be, in my view, well-deserved punishment, though. He is costing them a mint, and if Kimmel's show means that ABC gets bled dry, it couldn't happen to a nicer crowd.
ABC Unfires Jimmy Kimmel For Offensive Comments So They Can Instead Fire Him For Not Being Funny https://t.co/0TE2rrAIyJ pic.twitter.com/5MTJE4TXQK
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 22, 2025
I suspect that eventually, perhaps even soon, Kimmel's show will return to at least some of these stations, but a failing show will have to be canceled sometime soon anyway.
Meanwhile, I am enjoying the rapid turnaround on speech by liberals.
Sunny Hostin TODAY on Jimmy Kimmel's firing:
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) September 22, 2025
"Our founders drafted the First Amendment to protect the rights of citizens to criticize the government."
Sunny Hostin in 2018 on @therealRoseanne's firing:
"You must pay the consequence. Firing her was the right thing to do." pic.twitter.com/u4qlD3J9MT
Flashback: Tim Walz calls Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension “North Korea-style stuff.”
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) September 22, 2025
Disney has since brought Kimmel back and confirmed the Trump administration had zero influence on their decisions.
Worst “fascists” ever. pic.twitter.com/34z3sVCxnj
It's not true that everything Democrats say is a lie, but it IS true that everything they say is meant to be an ideological weapon to gain and maintain power. Bullying companies to promote their Narrative™ is what they do because it is a route to more power.
I almost forgot about this video of Jimmy Kimmel celebrating the President of the United States, literally getting canceled off the internet, and 20 million supporters of him getting their social media platform! pic.twitter.com/sQ6Ou2qcNp
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) September 21, 2025
When they decry it, it's only because they are losing on an issue.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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