Staff Reports
Disney and ABC thought they could paper over the mess and bring Jimmy Kimmel back to millions of living rooms, but local station owners pushed back hard and refused to carry the program. What we are watching is a corporate behemoth try to protect a politically biased talent while local broadcasters answer to their communities, not to Hollywood elites.
Kimmel’s offhand attack about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk touched off the controversy, and ABC pulled the show after the backlash made it clear his remarks were ill-timed and inflammatory. The network’s suspension made plain that even establishment media recognize the political and human stakes when a late-night host mocks a national tragedy.
More important than Disney’s internal drama were the decisions by Nexstar and other station groups to preempt the show rather than hand over their airwaves to what they called offensive commentary. These local owners run stations in hundreds of communities and answered to local viewers instead of the coastal outrage machine, showing that accountability still exists outside the entertainment bubble.
The FCC’s involvement and the direct pressure from Chairman Brendan Carr crystallized the reality that broadcast licenses come with responsibilities, not immunity for partisan attacks. Conservatives should applaud anyone willing to remind big media that the public airwaves are not a soapbox for scoffing at victims or politicizing violence.
Faced with the affiliate revolt, Disney announced the show would return after what it called “thoughtful conversations” with Kimmel, a move that looked more like damage control than genuine contrition. That corporate capitulation underlines how fragile the relationship is between woke talent and the very platforms that bankroll them when the public pushes back.
Not all local owners bought Disney’s reassurance; Sinclair explicitly said it will not air Kimmel’s return and demanded a direct apology and meaningful reparations to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA. That kind of firm stand — holding celebrated performers to the same standards as everyone else — is the kind of backbone Americans want from their local institutions, not more performative virtue signalling from Hollywood.
