Donald Trump praises decision to take Jimmy Kimmel off air
ABC’s late-night lineup just took a jolt—one that’s rippling through TV politics, and free-speech circles. On Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group said its ABC-affiliated stations will preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “for the foreseeable future,” beginning that night, after Kimmel’s on-air remarks about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The move effectively removes Kimmel in a swath of U.S. markets where Nexstar controls the late-night ABC feed, even as ABC’s network schedule technically still lists the show.
In broadcast terms, a preemption isn’t a cancellation; it’s a local affiliate choosing not to air a scheduled network program and substituting something else. Because Nexstar owns or operates dozens of ABC affiliates, the decision instantly pulls the show from many homes—potentially millions of viewers—while ABC’s owned-and-operated stations in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago may still carry it. Practically, that fragments the audience and ad impressions enough to feel like a shutdown in large parts of the country. Affiliates routinely preempt for breaking news, storm coverage, or sports runovers. Doing so “for the foreseeable future” over editorial content is unusual, and that’s why this has drawn so much attention
For viewers in affected markets, the post-news slot will fill with alternate programming—classic sitcoms, syndicated talk, or local specials. Many will catch Kimmel’s bits the next morning on YouTube and social apps; others will simply change habits. The longer this lasts, the more likely those habits stick, and habit is late night’s oxygen.
Kimmel has options. He can deliver the monologue he intended and push it digitally, letting the internet judge. He can stay the course and let corporate diplomacy work. ABC and Nexstar could quietly map a return with a time-limited détente, no public mea culpa. A pivot to a softer political edge seems unlikely; it would placate some affiliates but risk alienating his core audience.
This isn’t just about a comedian. It’s about who holds the remote to America’s 11:35 p.m. conversation: network HQ in New York or the station group in your city. In streaming, a host and a platform settle that instantly. In broadcast, the triangle—network, affiliate, regulator—still matters, and moments like this expose the fault lines. For now, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is dark in a patchwork of markets, lit in others, and loud everywhere online. Whether it returns uniformly will depend less on Washington than on boardrooms—and on whether viewers care enough to demand it back where it’s gone missing.
