KOMO, Sinclair to air Charlie Kirk tribute in Jimmy Kimmel’s time slot

KOMO, an ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair, will air a “Special in Remembrance of Charlie Kirk” during Friday’s late-night time slot normally reserved for Jimmy Kimmel Live!

ABC has indefinitely suspended the talk show after pressure from the Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr and companies such as Sinclair that own some of the network’s affiliates. Free speech advocates sounded alarm bells after Kimmel’s suspension, and after the FCC chair said the agency might take action against the comic and ABC.

During his Monday monologue, Kimmel said “the MAGA gang” was trying to characterize 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who allegedly shot conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, as “anything other than them,” and “doing everything they can to score political points” from Kirk’s death.

Investigators say Robinson had turned left politically in the last year.

Sinclair, which has long been known for requiring its stations such as KOMO to air right-leaning news stories and commentaries, announced its decision to air the Kirk remembrance special in an X post Wednesday. 

The media company’s statement called on Kimmel to apologize and donate to Kirk’s family and the conservative organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA. 

The company’s affiliates will not lift the suspension of Kimmel’s show until “formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” Sinclair said.

“Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive,” Jason Smith, Sinclair’s vice chair, said in the statement. “Broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue.”

Smith also said Kimmel’s comments highlighted an immediate need for federal officials to regulate “control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks,” but did not elaborate.

A representative for KOMO did not respond to phone or written inquiries on Thursday morning. 

Nexstar Media Group, which operates 23 ABC affiliates and is trying to buy Tegna, also said its stations would pull Kimmel’s show off the air. Tegna owns KING 5.

Kimmel has not publicly commented on his indefinite suspension by ABC. 

Brendan Carr, President Donald Trump’s appointee for FCC chair, said the commission had a case to hold Kimmel, ABC and network parent Walt Disney Co. accountable for spreading misinformation. Trump has called for networks who criticize him to lose their license.

But Christopher Anders, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s democracy and technology division, called Carr’s comments and Kimmel’s suspension a “grave threat to our First Amendment freedoms” in a statement Wednesday.

Kimmel’s show, Anders said, was the “latest target” of the Trump administration to silence people who criticize the president and control what content people in the U.S. can read and watch. 

“This is beyond McCarthyism,” Anders said. “Trump officials are repeatedly abusing their power to stop ideas they don’t like, deciding who can speak, write, and even joke.”

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, also criticized ABC’s suspension in a social media post, calling it “a blatant crack on free speech by an authoritarian administration.”

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who is a member of a Senate committee overseeing the FCC, said in a statement Thursday that Carr “does not have the authority to police speech that he or the President don’t personally like.”