After six days of silence, Jimmy Kimmel is set to return to Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight. But not everyone will be able to watch.
While ABC lifted its suspension of Kimmel, originally triggered by his controversial remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, two of America’s largest broadcasters, Sinclair and Nexstar, have announced they will not air his return episodes on many local ABC stations. The blackout impacts tens of millions of households across the country.
This raises a troubling question: what does it mean when a late-night comedian is censored not just by advertisers or networks, but by entire TV station groups?
Comedy has always been a space for political commentary and dissent. From Richard Pryor to George Carlin to Jon Stewart, late-night and stand-up stages are where uncomfortable truths get aired. Silencing those voices, even temporarily, risks sending a chilling message: only “safe” opinions get broadcast.
Kimmel himself broke his silence earlier today with a single social media post: a photo of himself with the late Norman Lear, captioned “Missing this guy today.” Lear, who passed in 2023, was one of television’s fiercest advocates for free expression through shows like All in the Family. The choice of image was no accident, it was a nod to the struggle Kimmel now finds himself in.
Meanwhile, his guest lineup this week includes Glen Powell, Ethan Hawke, Peyton Manning, and Sarah McLachlan, reminders that culture doesn’t stop for politics, even when politics tries to stop culture.
At Civic Goods Co, we believe free expression isn’t negotiable. Whether it’s in classrooms, on late-night TV, or in the pages of a banned book, the right to speak and to listen belongs to all of us. When powerful networks decide which voices can be heard, democracy itself loses volume.
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