After days of backlash and threats of a boycott, ABC has lifted Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. The late-night host’s show was pulled from the air on Sept. 17 after FCC Chair Brendan Carr took issue with certain comments the comedian made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The news sent shockwaves throughout the entertainment industry and the country, as concerns mounted that the Trump administration was attempting to curb Kimmel’s free speech — and even conservatives like Ted Cruz and Candace Owens disapproved of the move.
On Monday, more than 400 celebrities signed an open letter “in solidarity” with Kimmel. The letter, published by the ACLU, called Kimmel’s removal from the air “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.” Among the star-studded signees were Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise, and Robert De Niro.
But that doesn’t mean everyone will be able to tune in to Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday. Read on for more on the controversy and the latest updates.
Howard Stern on Jimmy Kimmel’s firing
Also on Monday, Howard Stern, a longtime friend of the comedian, spoke out about ABC’s decision on the Sept. 22 episode of his radio show. Stern said he was “so upset” by the news, calling the move “horrible” and “outrageous.”
“When the government says, ‘I’m not pleased with you, so we’re going to orchestrate a way to silence you,’ it’s the wrong direction for our country,” the radio host said. “It isn’t good.”
“If ABC wanted to fire Jimmy because they didn’t like him, or he had low ratings — they didn’t want to fire him,” he added. “They’re being pressured by the United States government. We can’t have that, not if we’re going to have a democracy.” He revealed plans to cancel his Disney+ subscription to protest ABC, and his cohost Robin Quivers said she intended to do the same.
How many people canceled Disney+ and Hulu?
Stern wasn’t the only one to announce he’d cancel his streaming services to protest ABC — people across social media posted about ending their Disney+ or Hulu subscriptions, as a way to take a stand against the network’s treatment of Kimmel.
There aren’t reliable published numbers on how many subscribers canceled Disney+ or ABC account, but some social media users reported that the webpage where users could cancel their Disney+ crashed in the few days after the announcement.
Jimmy Kimmel returns to late night
On Monday afternoon, ABC announced it had reversed course, and said Jimmy Kimmel Live! would return to the air on Tuesday.
“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,” the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement.
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the statement said. “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.”
Last week, outlets including Newsweek reported that Sinclair, which owns a number of ABC affiliates, would not lift the suspension unless the comedian issued “a direct apology” to Kirk’s family and made a “meaningful personal donation” to TurningPoint USA. It’s not yet clear whether Kimmel met those demands, although sources told Deadline that “Kimmel made it clear he was unwilling to apologize for his remarks.” Kimmel will address the whole situation on air on Tuesday.
Nextar and Sinclair to boycott Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Even though ABC announced Kimmel would come back, that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone across the country will be able to watch it on their televisions. On Monday night, Sinclair announced it would preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! across the 38 local ABC stations it operates and replace it “with news programming,” a Sinclair representative said in a statement. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
On Tuesday morning, Nexstar, which operates 28 ABC affiliates, followed suit: “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,” the company said in a statement. “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.”
The AP reported in 2020 that Sinclair “has a reputation for conservative viewpoints in its broadcasts,” and a 2019 study from Emory University found, “stations bought by Sinclair reduce coverage of local politics, increase national coverage, and move the ideological tone of coverage in a conservative direction relative to other stations operating in the same market.”
Meanwhile, Open Secrets reports that Nexstar owners, employees, or their immediate family members donated $124,501 to the RNC in 2024. Nexstar is also looking to acquire Tegna, another station group, in a $6.2 billion deal. If the merger were to go through, it would put the Nexstar/Tegna entity above the limit of how many local stations one company can own — so Nexstar is pushing the FCC to abolish that rule or raise the cap. (For what it’s worth, Nexstar denied that its decision to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! had to do with any political dealings.)
Viewers can still stream Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Hulu+ Live TV and other streamers like Fubo and Sling TV.
