Jimmy Kimmel returns to St. Louis airwaves after Sinclair lifts boycott

Sinclair Broadcast Group is ending its preemption of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The Maryland-based owner of several major ABC network affiliates said Friday the late night program will return to its airwaves immediately. The station group pulled Kimmel off the air Sept. 17 following a backlash over the host’s comments related to the killing of right wing activist Charile Kirk.

Sinclair’s ABC stations include KDNL Channel 30 in St. Louis.

Kimmel was pulled off the air by Sinclair and another station group, Nexstar, the same day Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr took aim at the host’s Sept. 15 monologue, in which Kimmel said MAGA Republicans were using Kirk’s death to “score political points” and were trying to categorize suspected shooter Tyler Robinson as “anything other than one of them.”

In a statement, Sinclair did not cite a specific reason for returning the program which has not aired on its stations since Sept. 17. The company had initially demanded that the host make a personal apology to the family of Kirk and a significant contribution to the his organization Turning Point USA.

A person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly said no such concessions were made to get the program back on the air.

Carr, who oversees regulations for broadcast stations, called Kimmel’s remarks “the sickest conduct possible” and called for ABC to act. He threatened to go after TV stations’ licenses if it failed to do so.

ABC pulled the program from the network, but returned it to the air on Tuesday. Kimmel’s first episode back scored 6.26 million viewers — a record for its regular 11:35 p.m. ET time slot — while his opening monologue was watched by more than 26 million people on YouTube and social media.