Sinclair Ends Boycott of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Nexstar Still Holding Out

The blackout of Jimmy Kimmel Live! is partially over. Sinclair, one of the two major station groups that had pulled the late-night show earlier this month, announced Friday it will allow the program to return to its ABC-affiliated stations.

This means viewers in cities like Washington, DC, and Seattle, along with several dozen other markets, will once again be able to watch Jimmy Kimmel’s nightly monologues.

The other major station group, Nexstar, has not announced any plans to lift its own blackout, leaving the standoff unresolved in many parts of the country.

Both Sinclair and Nexstar faced criticism for their decisions to keep Kimmel off the air, with some accusing the companies of aligning with President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. The controversy began after Carr condemned Kimmel’s September 15 remarks about the suspected killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, raising the possibility of action against local station licenses.

Sinclair initially demanded ABC address “professionalism and accountability” and even called for Kimmel to apologize to Kirk’s family and donate to Turning Point USA, though it never made that a condition of restoring the show.

On Friday, Sinclair said it had held talks with ABC but that its proposals — including appointing a network-wide independent ombudsman — were not adopted. Still, the company decided to bring Kimmel back to its stations.

Kimmel, for his part, has responded with humor. On Thursday night, he joked about the situation, noting that despite the preemptions, his show saw its second-highest ratings in nearly 23 years and racked up over 21 million YouTube views. “We couldn’t have done it without you, Mr. President,” Kimmel quipped.

Whether Nexstar will follow Sinclair’s lead remains uncertain, but for now, Kimmel fans in many markets are celebrating the show’s return.

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