One of the largest station groups in America, Sinclair, is backing down and ending its decision to preempt ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Sinclair and another station group, Nexstar, announced last week that they would preempt late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s eponymously named show over what they said were his “insensitive” comments about the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk. On September 15, Mr. Kimmel said a “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” despite the governor of Utah and other officials stating that the suspect held left-wing views.

In a surprise announcement on Friday, Sinclair, which owns 38 local ABC affiliates, said that it is ending its preemption of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and that the program would return to its local affiliates the same day.

“Our objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience,” Sinclair said. “We take seriously our responsibility as local broadcasters to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while also honoring our obligations to air national network programming.”

The station group noted that it had “received thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders,” and has “witnessed troubling acts of violence, including the despicable incident of a shooting at an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento.”

“These events underscore why responsible broadcasting matters and why respectful dialogue between differing voices remains so important,” Sinclair said.

The station group explained it has engaged in discussions with ABC about whether to bring back Mr. Kimmel’s show, and that Sinclair had “proposed measures to strengthen accountability, viewer feedback, and community dialogue, including a network-wide independent ombudsman.” 

It is unusual for a TV broadcaster to hire an ombudsman. In July, the new owners of CBS News committed to hiring an ombudsman as part of their attempt to address allegations of a left-wing, anti-Israel bias at the Tiffany Network. 

Sinclair said that ABC has “not yet adopted these measures,” and it “respects their right to make those decisions under our network affiliate agreements.”

Sinclair had previously demanded that Mr. Kimmel apologize to the Kirk family and make a personal donation to Turning Point USA. (Mr. Kimmel is a prolific fundraiser for Democrats and famously hosted a major fundraiser for President Biden in 2024 that included prominent guests such as President Obama and George Clooney.)

However, at least publicly, Mr. Kimmel did not offer an apology for his comment when he returned to his show on Tuesday night. The closest he came was stating that he understood people felt the comment was “ill-timed or unclear.” He also claimed that the alleged gunman does not “represent anyone.” He spent the rest of his monologue talking about himself and those who supported him while attacking President Trump and the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr. 

In its statement, Sinclair did not indicate that Disney or Mr. Kimmel had made concessions. But earlier this week, Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, publicly demanded that Sinclair — which owns KOMO, the ABC station in far-left Seattle — return Mr. Kimmel to the air. Sinclair also owns WJLA, the ABC station for the greater Washington, D.C., area, and had been blocking that area’s influential viewership from watching the show.

The decision by Sinclair and Nexstar to preempt Mr. Kimmel’s show has been cast as the station groups caving to pressure from the federal government after Mr. Carr said on September 17 that broadcasters “can find ways to take action on Mr. Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Mr. Carr’s comment, which was made hours before Sinclair and Nexstar announced their decision to preempt Mr. Kimmel’s show, was seen as a threat of future government action. (Mr. Carr has denied he was making a threat and that he merely meant an individual might fight a complaint against the broadcasters, which the FCC would be statutorily obligated to investigate.)

In its statement announcing that it is ending its preemption of Mr. Kimmel’s show on Friday, Sinclair said, “Our decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence. Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content.”

While Sinclair — whose management is the most conservative of the station groups — may have reversed course apparently without receiving concessions from ABC, it is unclear whether Nexstar would do the same.

Nexstar, the country’s largest station group, which needs FCC approval to consummate its acquisition of the Tegna station group, did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.