“Jimmy Kimmel Live” is back – but not in Lubbock.
Nexstar, which operates KAMC – the ABC affiliate in Lubbock on behalf of Mission Broadcasting, Inc. – announced Tuesday morning its affiliates will preempt Kimmel following the show’s controversial brief hiatus.
Special note: Three days after this story was published, Nexstar announced Kimmel’s show would return to the company’s ABC affiliates.
“We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision…” Nexstar said.
Another major broadcaster, Sinclair, also announced Kimmel will not return to its ABC stations either.
LubbockLights.com posted a poll Tuesday morning on Facebook asking if local viewers want to see Kimmel return to the Lubbock airwaves. By a margin of 1,221 to 835 (so far), those in the poll preferred Kimmel not air on KAMC. (We have updated the numbers in this story as the poll progressed.)
The debate on our page could be summarized by one viewer saying, “Good job Nextstar and Sinclair. Don’t cave and keep him off the air!” with another saying, “Freedom of speech!!!!! This is the USA, not the United Soviet Union of America.”
Click here to see or participate in the poll.
Kimmel was removed last week from ABC’s late-night lineup after comments about the September 10 assassination of Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University. Tyler James Robinson was arrested and charged with murder.
In his September 16 monologue, Kimmel said, “The MAGA gang are 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.”
In the hours prior to ABC’s announcement to suspend Kimmel from the airwaves, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr spoke during a podcast interview.
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr said.
Sinclair and Nexstar both announced the same day as Carr’s comment that they would preempt Kimmel’s show. ABC’s announcement followed those two.
Nexstar was criticized by some commentators for capitulating to Carr and the entire Trump Administration because of a pending $6 billion merger with Tegna – which still requires approval from federal regulators.
Nexstar in reaffirming the decision to keep Kimmel off its local affiliates, including Lubbock, spoke of “all parties” being committed to “fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
“In the meantime, we note that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming,” Nexstar said.
