Upstate Networks Briefly Take Jimmy Kimmel Off Air

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
UPSTATE NEW YORK

After Jimmy Kimmel’s weeknight show was briefly suspended by ABC following pressure from Federal Trade Commission Chair Brendan Carr, some local stations still refused to air the show for several days following ABC reinstating it. Impacted upstate TV stations included local affiliates of Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group. Among them were: Sinclair’s WHAM, Rochester and Nexstar’s WTEN, Albany; WSYR, Syracuse; WIVT, Binghamton; WBGH-CD, Binghamton; WUTR, Utica; and WWTI, Watertown. Sinclair and Nexstar announced on September 26 that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return to air on their affiliates.

Stations local to AllOtsego coverage areas, WUTR, Utica, and WTEN, Albany, declined to comment for this story, referring to Nexstar’s national statements.

On September 15, several days after the assassination of right-wing political figure Charlie Kirk, Kimmel drew ire from some on the right for comments in his monologue.

“We hit some 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 said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving,” he continued, before playing a clip of President Trump answering a press question about how he was handling Kirk’s death by speaking about construction on his new White House ballroom. 

The individual charged with Kirk’s murder, Tyler Robinson, was said by people who know him to have moved toward the left in the months preceding the shooting, according to investigators and national news reports.

The day after the assassination, Kimmel said the “senseless murder” had drawn “extraordinarily vile responses” coming “from both sides of the political spectrum.”

On right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson’s show on September 17, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who wields the rarely-used power to prevent networks from broadcasting, said, “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Disney is the parent company for ABC. Within hours, ABC suspended the show indefinitely.

Carr’s comments drew condemnation from free speech and civil liberties advocates, who say they amounted to coercion in violation of the First Amendment.

“Carr is once again abusing his position to try to assert government control over public discourse,” the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a group with a record of defending both left and right-wing speech, said in a September 18 statement. “The FCC has no authority to control what a late night TV host can say, and the First Amendment protects Americans’ right to speculate on current events even if those speculations later turn out to be incorrect,” the group said. FIRE has previously been critical of Carr for his threats to take action against news networks for the content of their news coverage.

In comments to the Kingston “Daily Freeman,” U.S. Representative Josh Riley said “The FCC strong-arming a private company to pull a comedian off the air is clearly unconstitutional, and the courts need to say so.”

Caitlin Ogden, chair of the Otsego County Democratic Committee, told AllOtsego on September 24 that she was “incredibly disappointed” by any station that preempted the show.

“Kimmel’s suspension was due to him simply having made comments critical of the rush to lay blame for the shooting engaged in by the President and leaders on the political right,” Ogden said.

Comparing the Trump administration’s “veiled threats” against ABC for its comedy show to the ruling parties of Russia, China, and North Korea, Ogden asked: “Do we really want to stand with them on this issue?”

The Otsego County Republican Committee, State Senator Peter Oberacker, and Assemblymembers Brian Miller, Robert Smullen, and Chris Tague did not respond to AllOtsego’s requests for comment by press time. Assemblymember Joe Angelino declined to comment.

Nexstar and Sinclair claimed their preemption of Kimmel was an independent business decision. Some on the right argued that declining ratings for late night talk shows also justified the suspension.

Returning to air on Tuesday, September 23, Kimmel, holding back tears, said “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man…Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what … was obviously a deeply disturbed individual.”

Kimmel described the federal government’s efforts to remove him as “not legal. That’s not American. That is un-American and it is so dangerous.”