SBGI Press Release: Sinclair Says Kimmel Suspension is Not Enough...
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Read Press Release for Sinclair - Class A (SBGI) published on Sep. 17, 2025 - Sinclair Says Kimmel Suspension is Not Enough, Calls on FCC and ABC to Take Additional Action

Sinclair, the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

As discussed with ABC earlier today, Sinclair decided to indefinitely preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” beginning tonight. Following these discussions, ABC has suspended production of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

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

Sinclair’s ABC stations will air a special in remembrance of Charlie Kirk this Friday, during Jimmy Kimmel Live’s timeslot. The special will also air across all Sinclair stations this weekend. In addition, Sinclair is offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country.

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.

Sinclair also calls upon Mr. Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, we ask Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.

Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.

  • PhilipTheBucket@piefed.socialEnglish
    25·
    15 hours ago

    ignoring the main point, in that the Federal Communications Commission threatened ABC’s license over this

    Search for “hand-in-glove”.

    was that the types of speech that folks were advocating to have removed was speech that quite often led to real-world violence when it was able to propagate en masse.

    Okay, so reddit was right to frenetically remove everyone talking about Luigi, right? Lemmy.world too? Just bring up a connection to real-world violence (which connection is also applied to pro-Palestinian activists, BLM protestors, all sorts of people) and then it becomes okay to pull their hosting / delete their comment?

    I mean there are cases where I agree with you. Everyone can make their decision about where the lines are, that’s the wonder of being a private company or whatever, and this is part of what I was quickly glossing over when I said “within certain baseline limits.” Generally though, the principle is that whoever has the money and is in charge of the government is going to be the one deciding what is “violence” and what is “a counter-terrorism operation” or whatever distinction, so it’s usually a lot safer to say that people can just talk even if someone who’s in charge of pulling the plug or not feels like it’s unsafe and dangerous what they are saying.

    THEY are typically the ones screaming the loudest about the need for some form of community based moderation and/or censorship of certain ideas.

    Citation? I’d be interested to read about it.

    (I mean certainly that’s not true now. They are not screaming louder than the government is screaming about needing to fire or deplatform anyone who talked about Charlie Kirk the wrong way. I do get what you meant though.)