Jimmy Kimmel will return to his late-night show on Tuesday after a six-day suspension that triggered nationwide debate over free speech, government intimidation, and corporate capitulation in American media.
Disney announced Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would resume airing September 23, ending a suspension that began September 17 following comments the comedian made about the person who assassinated Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder, and the MAGA movement.
“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” Disney wrote in a statement.
After Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination, Kimmel said, 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, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” during his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appeared on a conservative podcast on Sept. 17, warning Disney and ABC stations: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Within hours of Carr’s threats, major station groups Nexstar and Sinclair—which operate dozens of ABC affiliates nationwide—announced they would drop Kimmel’s show from their networks. Nexstar, which controls 32 ABC affiliates, called Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive,” while Sinclair demanded he apologize to Kirk’s family and donate to Turning Point USA.
Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, which owns 13 additional ABC affiliates, must receive approval from the FCC before it can move forward. This deal would significantly expand Nexstar’s footprint in local television, potentially allowing the company to reach over 39% of U.S. households—surpassing the current national ownership cap set by federal regulations. To complete the merger, Nexstar will have to obtain either a waiver from the FCC or a formal change to the national ownership limit, both of which are decisions controlled by the current FCC leadership under Chairman Carr.
Faced with losing distribution on more than 70 local stations, Disney capitulated that evening, announcing Kimmel would be “preempted indefinitely.”
President Trump immediately celebrated the suspension as “great news for America” and praised ABC for “finally having the courage to do what had to be done.” Trump also used the moment to call for the removal of other late-night hosts, writing on Truth Social: “That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!.”
However, the suspension sparked bipartisan criticism of government overreach. Republican Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz condemned Carr’s threats, with Paul calling them “absolutely inappropriate” and Cruz comparing them to mafia tactics from the movie “Goodfellas.” Democratic leaders went further, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for Carr’s resignation and House Democrats accusing him of “corrupt abuse of power.”
The Kimmel suspension represents what analysts called the most direct example yet of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against critical media coverage. It followed recent legal settlements where CBS paid Trump $16 million over a “60 Minutes” interview and ABC paid $15 million over a statement about the E. Jean Carroll case.
The First Amendment protects against government action to limit speech, but does not prohibit private companies like ABC (owned by Disney) from firing employees over speech, even speech made in their public roles. Employers in most states, including media networks, can legally terminate workers over controversial comments, provided they do not breach specific employment contracts or violate limited state laws protecting certain types of political activity.
The Kimmel case is distinct because the FCC, a government agency led by Trump-appointed officials, publicly pressured ABC (Disney) to take action against Kimmel, even mentioning potential repercussions involving broadcast licenses. This pressure reportedly influenced major ABC affiliates to preempt Kimmel’s show, making the situation less about private corporate discretion and more about state-induced censorship.
Sinclair announced, “Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” Monday night.
On Monday, Carr also denied that he threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of ABC affiliates.
“What I spoke about last week was that when concerns are raised about news distortion, there’s a way — there’s an easy way — for parties to address that and work that out,” Carr said at a conference Monday. “That takes place between local television stations that are licensed by the FCC and what we call national programmers, like Disney. They work that out. There doesn’t need to be any involvement of the FCC.”
