Giant local TV conglomerate Nexstar might have been both the first, and the biggest, of America’s various station-owning overlords to make a public stink about Jimmy Kimmel this week, calling comments the ABC host made addressing Republicans “working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk” both “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” But Nexstar could wind up tragically losing the race to be the most performatively angry about the talk show host’s statements: Sinclair Broadcast Group has now entered the contest, and nobody gets angrier, in more attention-seeking ways, than Sinclair.
The company—which owns the largest collection of ABC affiliate stations in the United States, and is notorious for forcing local newsrooms to run “must-run” segments typically espousing conservative views—issued its own statement on Wednesday night in response to news that ABC and Disney had yanked Kimmel from the airwaves out of apparent fear of affiliate revolt. (Presumably spurred on by FCC chair Brendan Carr, who gave a podcast interview earlier on Wednesday implying threats of license loss to any affiliate that didn’t go after Kimmel.) But that mere capitulation wasn’t enough for Sinclair, which issued a statement late on Wednesday stating that “Sinclair will not lift the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.” The statement also all but begged for the FCC to “take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.” Oh, and they want Kimmel to personally apologize to Kirk’s family, and give a donation to his organization Turning Point USA, presumably for the gross crime of saying that right-wing political figures sure do seem eager to make political hay out of the commentator’s murder.
But don’t worry, ABC viewers in Sinclair-owned markets! (There are a lot of you, by the way; Sinclair owns roughly 40 ABC affiliates around the country, out of the 193 stations it owns overall.) The conglomerate will be providing something equally entertaining to watch in the slot previously reserved for Kimmel’s Friday night episode: A tribute to Kirk, which will also be made available to ABC affiliates around the country. This will, of course, be very exciting for anyone who has not spent enough time over the past week being lambasted with media extolling the virtues of Kirk’s very vocal approach to the American political experiment, and who would have just wasted all that time watching Kimmel’s show by relaxing or laughing anyway.
