Jimmy Kimmel Will Not Air on Sinclair Stations After Top ABC Affiliate Demanded Host Apologize, Pay Charlie Kirk’s Family

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is returning on Sept. 23 — but not on all TVs.

On Monday, Sept. 22, the Walt Disney Company announced in a press release that Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night show will return to the air on Tuesday, Sept. 23. The statement said that Disney’s initial decision to “suspend production” was out of a desire to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.”

“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,” the statement concluded.

In response, Sinclair, the broadcasting company that makes up the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, shared a statement on social media.

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” the X post read. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled off the air on Sept. 17, and an ABC spokesperson told PEOPLE at the time it would be on pause “indefinitely” after comments the host made in his Sept. 15 monologue about Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed on Sept. 10.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel, 57, said in the monologue. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.”

The show cut to a clip of the press asking President Trump how he was holding up to which he replied, “I think very good, and by the way, right there where you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”

Trump continued discussing the ballroom plans, saying the result would “be a beauty.” The cameras then cut back to Kimmel. “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief, construction,” the comedian said.

Sinclair, which has ABC stations in 30 U.S. markets including KOMO in Seattle, Washington; WJLA in Washington, D.C.; KDNL in St. Louis, Missouri; KTUL in Tusla, Oklahoma; and KATU in Portland, Oregon, to name a few, has been vocal about supporting ABC’s initial decision to pull Live! from the air.

On Sept. 17, the media company said in a press release that it “objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the assassination of Charlie Kirk” and, after discussions with ABC, made the decision to “indefinitely preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning that night.

“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair vice chairman Jason Smith said in a statement. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities.”

“We appreciate FCC Chairman [Brendan] Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks,” Smith added.

The press release went on to list demands for Kimmel to meet before Sinclair would lift the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its ABC stations.

The first is for there to be “formal discussions” held with ABC “regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”

It also asked for Kimmel to “issue a direct apology to the Kirk family” and for him to make a “meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA,” Kirk’s nonprofit that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses.

Sinclair also noted that “regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program,” it won’t return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to air until it is “confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.”

The group also noted that they were airing a “special in remembrance” of Kirk on Sept. 19 in Kimmel’s timeslot.

Last week’s new produced an outrage across Hollywood and amongst other late-night hosts in the aftermath of Kimmel’s show being pulled off the air.

Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert all spoke out in support of Kimmel following the news, as did Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Howard Stern, and the co-hosts of The View.

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Hours before the news was announced that Kimmel would return, over 400 celebrities signed a letter defending the constitutional right to free speech and supporting Kimmel. Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and Tom Hanks were among the signatures on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) letter, along with prominent Disney star Selena Gomez, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, Martin Short and Meryl Streep.