Posted in: ABC, TV | Tagged: ABC, disney, jimmy kimmel

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Sinclair Will Still Pre-Empt Late-Night Talk Show

Sinclair released a statement: Jimmy Kimmel Live! will continue to be pre-empted as it looks to "evaluate the show’s potential return."

Less than a week after the late-night host was suspended, reportedly over comments regarding the late conservative activist and advisor Charlie Kirk, The Walt Disney Company-owned ABC announced earlier today that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel would return on Tuesday night. Disney's decision to remove Jimmy Kimmel  Live! from television came after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel during an interview, urging local ABC affiliates to take action against the late-night host. Shortly after, Nexstar and Sinclair, owners of a large number of ABC affiliates, announced that they were removing Kimmel's show from that local stations. Now, Sinclair has responded, stating that the late-night show will be pre-empted on Tuesday night on its 38 ABC stations, replaced with news programming. "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," read the statement that was released.

Here's a look at Sinclair's statement from Monday evening:

Before news of Kimmel's return was announced, Carr looked to defend himself and the FCC from accusations of government overreach, and that the commissioner was looking to infringe on free speech by clarifying his "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" during the Concordia Summit in New York earlier today. Stating that a threat to pull licenses from ABC stations for not taking action against Kimmel "did not happen in any way, shape or form," Carr added, "what I spoke about last week is that when concerns are raised about news distortion … there's an easy way for parties to address that and work that out. In the main, 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, and there doesn't need to be any involvement of the FCC." The FCC head continued, "Now, if they don't, there's a way that is not as easy, which is someone can file a complaint at the FCC, and then the FCC, by law, as set up by Congress, has to adjudicate that complaint. And what I've been very clear in the context of the Kimmel episode, is the FCC, and myself in particular, have expressed no view on the ultimate merits."

"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," Disney said in an official statement earlier today, announcing Kimmel's return. "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."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!