Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show has been taken off air after comments made by the host about the death of right wing influencer Charlie Kirk.
Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Nexstar Communications Group, who operate large numbers of ABC affiliates between them, announced they would pull the show from Wednesday, branding the comments “offensive” and inappropriate”. This led ABC to ‘indefinitely’ suspend production of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in a move that has attracted widespread backlash.
Sinclair subsequently released a statement demanding further action against Kimmel.
In a press release, the group, which has long-standing ties to Donald Trump and conservative politics, said it would not broadcast Kimmel’s program until discussions with executives were held “regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.”
“Mr Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” said Vice Chairman Jason Smith. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”
Smith went on to say that a special tribute to Kirk’s life will be available to broadcast for all Sinclair affiliates nationwide during Kimmel’s timeslot on September 19.
A statement from the company added: “Sinclair also calls upon Mr Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, we ask Mr Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.”
Jason Smith’s father, David Smith, serves as executive chairman of the Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcasting Inc., which is known for infusing a right-wing sensibility into its news products.
Sinclair, the second largest operator of affiliate television stations behind Nexstar, is headquartered in the Baltimore suburbs. Julian Smith, David Smith’s father, began the company in 1958 when he received a license to operate an FM radio station in Maryland.
From there, the company expanded into television, becoming known as the Chesapeake Television Corporation in the 1960s, and buying numerous local television stations while sealing deals to broadcast programming from major networks on them.
These channels are given some autonomy on their broadcasting, especially when it comes to local news programming which is primarily produced in-house.
It was David Smith, Julian Smith’s son, who changed the name to Sinclair in 1985 as the business began to expand rapidly. At the time of writing, the company owns 193 television stations nationwide, with each one broadcasting content from the major networks, NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox.
Sinclair owns affiliates that broadcast ABC content in dozens of media markets across the U.S., including in Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. The group’s infusion of pro-conservative talking points under the guise of news programming goes back as far as the George W. Bush administration.
The company maintained its position in conservative politics during the 2016 presidential election as David Smith told Trump, “We are here to deliver your message,” The Guardian reported in 2018. At the time, Sinclair programming reached around 70 percent of American households.
Between 2016 and 2017, Sinclair's profits more than doubled, according to the Associated Press.
The relationship between Sinclair and the White House was further solidified when, in April 2017, former Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn was appointed as the company’s senior political analyst. Epshteyn’s pro-Trump editorials were featured in news broadcasts and later highlighted during an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
A 2019 study from Emory University found that “stations bought by Sinclair reduce coverage of local politics, increase national coverage and move the ideological tone of coverage in a conservative direction relative to other stations operating in the same market.”
Amid criticism, Sinclair hired former Obama staffer Ameshia Cross, to provide a counter view to Epshten’s analysis. Epshteyn left Sinclair in 2019 and returned to a role with Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020.
This isn’t the first time that Kimmel and Sinclair have locked horns. In 2018, when Deadspin published a video feature on editorializing by news broadcasts, the comedian tweeted, “This is dangerous to our democracy.”
The video saw Deadspin video director Timothy Brown splice together dozens of clips of hosts on Sinclair channels, all repeating the same talking point verbatim warning against the prevalence of “fake news” among the mainstream media.
The criticism that followed prompted Trump to tweet at the time, “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”
Iconic newsreader Dan Rather was vocally critical of Sinclair on social media around this period.
“News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn’t journalism. It’s propaganda. It’s Orwellian. A slippery slope to how despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses,” Rather wrote in a post on Facebook.
In 2019, NBC News reported on an internal memo that promised the group would focus less on national politics and more on local investigative journalism.
The Kimmel suspension follows remarks made by Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr during an interview with right-wing activist Benny Johnson about the host.
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” the chair said.
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