EntertainmentABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! is set to return to the air, with millions of people expected to watch to see how the late-night talk show host addresses his nearly weeklong suspension. But on Tuesday, station owners Nexstar and Sinclair both said they will not air Kimmel’s show.Performance will be during Kimmel’s first show back after ABC suspensionJackson Weaver · CBC News · Posted: Sep 23, 2025 11:47 AM EDT | Last Updated: 35 minutes agoComposite illustration featuring Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, left, and U.S. talk-show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel. Two groups of ABC affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair, said Tuesday they will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live!, despite ABC returning it to the airwaves with McLachlan as a special guest. (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press, Kevin Winter/Getty Images)ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! is set to return to the air on Tuesday, after a nearly weeklong suspension that triggered a national discussion about freedom of speech, with Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan announced as a surprise guest.But two groups of ABC affiliates that denounced the late-night talk show host last week said they would not carry Kimmel’s return. Nexstar Media Group — which operates 32 ABC affiliate stations in the U.S. — said it would continue to pre-empt the show, “pending assurances that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.”Sinclair Broadcast Group — the country’s largest ABC affiliate operator — also said it would keep Kimmel off its stations.The two corporations collectively control about one-quarter of ABC affiliates in the United States. Citytv, which is owned by Rogers Communications and holds the Canadian rights to Kimmel’s show, confirmed to CBC News they will resume airing it on Tuesday night.Sarah McLachlan to performActor Glen Powell was originally the sole celebrity scheduled to appear on Kimmel’s Tuesday broadcast, but Sarah McLachlan posted on Instagram on Tuesday that she would be joining the show.Earlier, McLachlan cancelled a performance at the U.S. premiere for her documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, which was released on Disney+ on Sept. 21, “in support of free speech.” Disney is ABC’s parent company.”It’s a gift for all of us to see [this documentary], but also I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with,” McLachlan said at the Ford Theater in Los Angeles on the weekend.She referred to “the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech.”Publicists for both the Hulu-distributed documentary and the musician have confirmed she is also booked as an interview guest on Kimmel’s show tonight. Representatives for McLachlan noted she was already slated to appear on Kimmel’s show to promote her new album, Better Broken, before the host was pulled from the air.WATCH | Former FCC chairman offers his take on suspension of Jimmy Kimmel show: Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on the suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! showGet the latest on CBCNews.ca, the CBC News App, and CBC News Network for breaking news and analysisABC suspended Kimmel indefinitely after comments he made in a monologue last week, when Kimmel said the U.S. had hit “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 made similar statements in his followup show the next night.The next day, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr appeared on conservative podcaster Benny Johnson’s show, decrying Kimmel’s words as “appearing to directly mislead the American public” about the alleged shooter’s political affiliations.”We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said on the podcast, hinting that the FCC — a government agency tasked with regulating radio, television and internet content — has “remedies that [they] can look at,” even as market pressures that could lead to Kimmel’s firing mounted. “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action, frankly, on Kimmel. Or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”Soon after, Nexstar said they would replace Jimmy Kimmel Live! with other programming. Sinclair then said they would do the same in a statement thanking Carr, before ABC announced they were pre-empting Kimmel’s show entirely. That was followed by posts by U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social, saying the move was “great news for America.”Debates around free speechSome characterized Carr’s involvement as government overreach. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told CNN on Thursday that “we know there was federal interference” given Carr’s appearance on Johnson’s podcast. Earlier, she took to X to compare ABC pre-empting Kimmel’s show with Paramount cancelling Stephen Colbert — a decision they made shortly after Colbert criticized Paramount for settling a defamation case with Trump.Paramount said they made the move for purely financial reasons, but were also in late stages of a merger with the company Skydance — a move the FCC could have blocked.Warren opened an investigation in May into whether Paramount engaged in bribery with the Trump administration in order to secure the deal. Both Carr and Paramount denied the two issues were related. Nexstar is seeking a merger with station owner Tegna, which would also require FCC approval.”First Colbert, now Kimmel,” Warren wrote Tuesday. “Last-minute settlements, secret side deals, multi-billion dollar mergers pending Donald Trump’s approval.”In reference to Kimmel, Senate Democrats issued a statement claiming Carr “weaponized” the FCC to “act as a roving press censor, targeting broadcasters based on their political commentary.” At a New York appearance on Monday, Carr denied that the FCC had any involvement in ABC removing the show, instead citing poor ratings as the reason Kimmel “is in the situation that he’s in.”ABOUT THE AUTHORJackson Weaver is a reporter and film critic for CBC’s entertainment news team in Toronto. You can reach him at jackson.weaver@cbc.ca.With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
Sarah McLachlan to perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as show returns to some stations
