Here's why Jimmy Kimmel's show was yanked over his Charlie Kirk comments...

It's about affiliates, not the FCC or free speech and this is why.

Jimmy Kimmel’s words on Monday night may have been callous, stupid and false but they should and are protected by freedom of speech, which in America means the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects Kimmel’s right to say what he wants, it doesn’t protect him from the economic consequences of what he said.

“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.

He then decided to play selective clips of Trump while mocking him and his grieving process after the death of Kirk. You can watch it for yourself here.

Kimmel’s attempt to be funny was ill-timed, cruel even and unnecessary. In making a mockery of an assassination he opened himself up to harsh criticism.

Now, I defend Kimmel’s right to say what he wants, but like all of us, you live with the fallout.

People are claiming Kimmel was fired due to political interference and point to FCC Chair Brendan Carr who went on Benny Johnson’s show and denounced Kimmel’s statements. In fact, Carr went beyond that and threatened licences that may be up for renewal.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

It’s wrong that Carr would do that, but anyone who thinks this is the first time that the FCC has pressured broadcasters over politics, or that it only happens with Republicans in charge needs to think again. The FCC is a very political organization, it was under Biden, it was under Trump 1.0, it was under Obama and on and on it goes.

The truth also is that before Carr made his statements, this move by ABC was in the move. Not to take away from Benny or his show, but this had been in the works starting on Tuesday.

The real key to understanding ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air indefinitely is the affiliate system the broadcast networks operate under. There are about 250 ABC affiliate stations in local markets across the United States, some owned locally but most owned by other major companies.

They agree to carry ABC programming in their markets and to keep making money, ABC needs the affiliates just as the affiliates need ABC.

After Kimmel’s comments, claiming that Kirk was killed by a MAGA person, then mocking Donald Trump over one of many reactions to Kirk’s death caught on camera, the affiliates were furious.

Nextstar Media Group owns about 200 local stations across the U.S. and 32 of them are ABC affiliates. On Wednesday afternoon, Nextstar put out a statement saying they would preempt Kimmel and air other shows on ABC affiliated stations.

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

Sinclair, a company with more than 175 local stations, including 30 ABC affiliates, also said they were dropping Kimmel’s show.

“Due to problematic comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk in programming provided to broadcast stations by ABC, Sinclair and its partners, which operate ABC stations in 30 markets in the U.S., will stop airing Jimmy Kimmel’s show until further notice.”

After ABC suspended Kimmel, Sinclair issued a further statement saying Kimmel must be fired.

“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.”

With or without Carr’s comments, this was going to happen.

Between them Nextstar and Sinclair own 62 of 250 affiliates, or 25% of the network’s affiliate stations. They were complaining loudly to ABC and then went public.

Some are saying this is all about Nextstar hoping to merge with Tenga, owner of 64 stations and nine ABC affiliates. Maybe that is a factor, but I’m betting Tenga, Gray, E.W. Scripps, Hearst and other major owners of affiliates were also uncomfortable with Kimmel’s statements.

The Scripps owned ABC station out of Detroit that feeds my cable package in Toronto was showing Celebrity Family Feud on Wednesday night.

You can bet that even without making public statements, other ownership groups of affiliates were complaining to ABC.

Why?

Because local residents would be calling the local station to complain. Those complaints would sent up the chain of command to the ownership groups and then onto ABC itself.

Kimmel’s comments were rude, crass, factually incorrect and just stupid. He annoyed the audience, he annoyed the public and that annoys the people who make money for themselves and for Kimmel himself through his show.

Let me explain something to anyone who has not worked in broadcasting before.

For all the talk of freedom of speech, broadcasting is an incredibly self-censoring industry at times. On television and radio, broadcasters know there are limits to what they can say either due to regulators or to not go beyond the pale.

In this instance, Kimmel went beyond the pale and will now pay the price.

In broadcasting, that normally means a suspension, not firing, but firing is possible.

Should the FCC chair have weighed in? No, but this was happening either way.