On Wednesday, September 17th, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled off the air from American Broadcasting Company (ABC). ABC is owned by Walt Disney and is one of the most ubiquitous networks in the US. ABC was very influential with the evolution of sports programming and television news. ABC began airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! in January 2003.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! developed into a staple of the network. However, due to comments made by Jimmy Kimmel on his talk-show monologue on Monday, September 15th, regarding the recent death of Charlie Kirk, the talk show was suspended. Kirk was a right-wing American activist and influencer who was shot on the 10th of September, while at a university event. One of the comments in Kimmel’s monologue included him talking about how the, “MAGA gang who tried to characterize a kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
These comments came under fire and became a controversy all over the media. After criticism and possible regulatory “threats” from the chairman of the FCC (Federal Communications Commision) to the network, it was announced the show was cancelled.
The FCC grants ABC a broadcast license to air and is also key to approving an upcoming business deal with its parent company Disney to acquire the NFL Network. Additionally, its affiliate broadcaster, Nexstar is planning a major merger with Tegna. This is possible motivation for ABC response to the FCC chairman’s criticism with a suspension of the show.
There was no comment at that time from Jimmy Kimmel on his show suspension. There was, however, vocal outrage from followers and friends of Kimmel’s talk show.
Critics of the show’s cancellation argued it is a violation of the 1st Amendment, which protects the freedom of speech.
A violation of free speech can include when a government, at any level, infringes upon a person’s constitutional right to free expression. Proponents of this were upset about ABC suspending the talk show as they felt their rights were threatened, because of how the government responded to the monologue, which is free expression.
The alternative perspective of free speech is that it can be hurtful to groups or individual people. Opinions varied, but most people on the right wing of the government saw the monologue as insensitive and hurtful and therefore, attacked and threatened Kimmel and ABC.
Many consumers boycotted watching ABC and Disney owned services. and any broadcast or local tv stations, who were owned or affiliated by Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group – stations who had aired the show before this but had stopped for the time being. A Lincoln student, Jaela (‘26), included how “[her] mom deleted her Hulu because she believes in the freedom of speech.” Hulu has agreements with Nexstar and Sinclair for their broadcasting.
Nexstar and Sinclair are major owners, as said before, of local tv stations in the US, but also have many network affiliates, including lots of ABC-affiliated stations. ABC, Sinclair and Nexstar have had a long history of local media ownership, which includes lots of power in what they choose to air on their networks.
To be more specific, Nexstar owns local TV stations, national networks like NewsNation, multicast channels, and 31.3 percent ownership of the Food Network. Sinclair owns more than 185 television stations affiliated with many broadcast networks including ABC and CBS.
After many discussions ABC had with the talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned on Tuesday, September 23rd. National ABC broadcasts aired him again, however certain major stations were still uncertain whether they were going to be airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! – like Sinclair and Nexstar.
Then, on Tuesday the 26th of September, after multiple discussions with the talk show and ABC, both major stations decided to air Jimmy Kimmel Live! that night, following their 3-day boycott of airing the show. Kimmel did in fact address the suspension of the show upon its return talking about free speech and how “it’s important to live in a country that allows them to have a show like this.”
Overall, people have said they wanted to see it back from its suspension, or what most thought was a “cancellation.” The evidence has shown that the talk show has had a big impact on people, the media, and followers of Jimmy Kimmel.
