Sinclair, the owner of the transmission station that “Jimmy Kimmel Live took!” Outside the air amid the criticisms of the host’s comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk, they said the program will return Friday night about ABC affiliates of the company.
“Our goal throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains precise and attractive to the widest possible audience,” said Sinclair in a statement on Friday.
“We take our responsibility as local stations to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while honoring our obligations to program national air networks,” said the company, which operates 30 ABC affiliated stations in 27 markets.
Sinclair and Nexstar, another owner of ABC’s affiliated stations, announced last week that they would avoid transmissions from the Kimmel interview program after the comedian criticized Republicans for their response to Kirk’s murder. The federal president of Communications, Brendan Carr, who regulates the transmitted television industry, accused Kimmel of “the most sick behavior possible.”
Disney, the owner of ABC, briefly suspended Kimmel before resuming production in his program this week. The return episode attracted more than 6 million spectators in total, although it was not available in more than a quarter of the US households. Uu. Thanks to Nexstar and Sinclair’s blackouts.
Sinclair insisted on Friday that his “decision to avoid this program was independent of any interaction or influence of the government.”
“Freedom of expression provides emitters with the right to exercise the judgment on the content of their local stations,” said the company. “While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to defend freedom of expression and demand that the emitters issue specific content.”
It remained unclear on Friday afternoon if Nexstar would allow Kimmel’s show to return to the air. The company said Wednesday that it was “continuing to evaluate the state of the Kimmel program.
“We are involved in productive discussions with executives of the Walt Disney company, with an approach in ensuring that the program reflects and respects the various interests of the communities we serve,” Nexstar said in a statement.
Four Democratic legislators announced this week that they will open an investigation into Nexstar and Sinclair focused on whether their decisions to extract the Kimmel program “are related to the regulatory problems of the Trump administration.”
Nexstar is looking for the approval of the FCC for a proposed fusion of $ 6.2 billion with a rival, Tegna. Sinclair is exploring merger options for your transmission business, according to CNBC. Together, Nexstar and Sinclair represent approximately 70 ABC affiliates in the United States
Kimmel has been at the center of a national fire storm after he commented on the political motivations of the suspicious man to kill Kirk at an event at the University of Utah Valley on September 10.
“The Maga gang [is] Trying desperately to characterize this child who murdered Charlie Kirk as more than one of them and doing everything possible to obtain political points, “Kimmel said in his September 15 show.
The researchers had not published details about the possible reason for the suspect at that time. The governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, said that the suspect grew in a conservative home in Utah, but then influenced what characterized as “leftist ideology.”
In the first minutes of the Episode back on Tuesday, Kimmel, 57, passionately defended freedom of expression and mocked President Donald Trump.
“This show is not important,” Kimmel said. “The important thing is that we saw in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
He also tried to soften tensions.
“You understand that it was never my intention to make the light of a young man’s murder,” Kimmel said, his voice breaking. “I don’t think there is funny about it.”
