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LOS ANGELES: Nexstar Media Group joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in bringing Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show back to its local TV stations on Friday night, ending a dayslong TV blackout for dozens of cities across the US
The companies suspended the program on Sept. 17 over remarks the comedian made in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing. Disney-owned ABC suspended Kimmel the same day, following threats of potential repercussions from the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission.
The move Friday means “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to local TV on Nexstar’s 28 ABC affiliates, from Topeka, Kansas, to New Orleans, along with Sinclair’s 38 local markets, from Seattle to Washington D.C.
Kimmel’s suspension lasted less than a week, while the affiliate blackout stood for just over a week.
When the boycott began, Sinclair, which is known for its conservative political content, called on Kimmel to apologize to Kirk’s family. Taking it a step further, the company asked him to “make a meaningful personal donation” to Turning Point USA, the nonprofit that Kirk founded.
On the day Kirk was killed, Kimmel shared a message of support for Kirk’s family and other victims of gun violence on social media, which he reiterated during his Tuesday return to ABC. He had also called the conservative activist’s assassination a “senseless murder” prior to being taken off air.
Kimmel’s original comments didn’t otherwise focus on Kirk. He instead lambasted President Donald Trump and his administration’s response to the killing. On his first show back Tuesday, the comedian did not apologize, but did say “it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man” and acknowledged that to some, his comments “felt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both.”
He also used a blend of humor and pointed messages to emphasize the importance of free speech.
Maryland-based Sinclair and Texas-based Nexstar continued to preempt the show for three days even after ABC and Disney returned it to national airwaves.
New episodes of the show air Monday through Thursday. Friday night’s rerun will be of Tuesday’s show — so viewers of Sinclair stations can see Kimmel’s emotional return to the air. Viewers will have to wait until Monday to get the host’s take on the latest moves.
In its statement Friday, Sinclair pointed to its “responsibility as local broadcasters to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while also honoring our obligations to air national network programming.”
The company added that it had received “thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers and community leaders,” and noticed “troubling acts of violence,” referencing the shooting into the lobby of a Sacramento station.
Sinclair said its proposals to Disney to strengthen accountability, feedback and dialogue and appoint an ombudsman had not yet been adopted.
In a similar statement Friday, Nexstar said it appreciated Disney’s approach to its concerns and that it “remains committed to protecting the First Amendment” while airing content that is “in the best interest of the communities we serve.”
Both companies said their decisions were not affected by influence from government or anyone else.
Disney representatives declined comment.
As a result of Sinclair and Nexstar’s boycott, viewers in cities representing roughly a quarter of ABC’s local TV affiliates had been left without the late-night program on local TV. The blackouts escalated nationwide uproar around First Amendment protections — particularly as the Trump administration and other conservatives police speech after Kirk’s killing. They also cast a spotlight on political influence in the media landscape, with critics lambasting companies that they accuse of censoring content.
Ahead of his suspension, Kimmel took aim at the president and his “MAGA gang” of supporters for their response to Kirk’s killing, which Kimmel said included “finger-pointing” and attempts to characterize the alleged shooter as “anything other than one of them.”
These remarks angered many supporters of Kirk — as well as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who accused Kimmel of appearing to “directly mislead the American public” with his remarks about the man accused of the killing. Ahead of Kimmel’s suspension, Carr warned that Disney and ABC’s local affiliates could face repercussions if the comedian was not punished.
He later applauded Sinclair and Nexstar, for their decisions to preempt the show.
Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith on the day the blackout began called Kimmel’s comments “inappropriate and deeply insensitive” and said that ABC’s suspension wasn’t enough. Smith added that Sinclair appreciated Carr’s comments — and called for “immediate regulatory action.”
While local TV affiliates broadcast their own programming, such as local news, they also contract with larger national broadcasters — and pay them to air their national content, splitting advertising revenue and fees from cable companies.
Matthew Dolgin, senior equity analyst at research firm Morningstar, said he wasn’t surprised by Kimmel’s return to the local stations.
“The relationship with Disney is far too important for these firms to risk,” Dolgin said. And setting aside legal rights from either side, he added, “Disney would’ve been free to take its affiliate agreements elsewhere in 2026 if these relationships were too difficult. That scenario would be devastating to Nexstar and Sinclair.”

JERUSALEM: After 800 years of silence, a pipe organ that researchers say is the oldest in the Christian world roared back to life Tuesday, its ancient sound echoing through a monastery in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Composed of original pipes from the 11th century, the instrument emitted a full, hearty sound as musician David Catalunya played a liturgical chant called Benedicamus Domino Flos Filius. The swell of music inside Saint Savior’s Monastery mingled with church bells tolling in the distance.
Before unveiling the instrument Monday, Catalunya told a news conference that attendees were witnessing a grand development in the history of music.
“This organ was buried with the hope that one day it would play again,” he said. “And the day has arrived, nearly eight centuries later.”
From now on, the organ will be housed at the Terra Sancta museum in Jerusalem’s Old City — just kilometers (miles) from the Bethlehem church where it originally sounded.
Researchers believe the Crusaders brought the organ to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, in the 11th century during their period of rule over Jerusalem. After a century of use, the Crusaders buried it to protect it from invading Muslim armies.
There it stayed until 1906, when workers building a Franciscan hospice for pilgrims in Bethlehem discovered it in an ancient cemetery.
Once full excavations were conducted, archaeologists had uncovered 222 bronze pipes, a set of bells and other objects hidden by the Crusaders.
“It was extremely moving to hear how some of these pipes came to life again after about 700 years under the earth and 800 years of silence,” said Koos van de Linde, organ expert who participated in the restoration. “The hope of the Crusaders who buried them — that the moment would come when they would sound again — was not in vain.”
A team of four researchers, directed by Catalunya, set out in 2019 to create a replica of the organ. But along the way, said Catalunya, they discovered that some of the pipes still function as they did hundreds of years ago.
Organ builder Winold van der Putten placed those original pipes alongside replicas he created based on ancient organ-making methods, some of which were illuminated by close study of the original pipes. The originals, making up about half of the organ, still bear guiding lines made by the original European craftsmen and engraved scrawls indicating musical notes.
Alvaro Torrente, director of the Instituto Complutense De Ciencias Musicales in Madrid — where Catalunya undertook the project — compared the discovery to “finding a living dinosaur, something that we never imagined we could encounter, suddenly made real before our eyes and ears.”
Researchers hope to finish restoring the entire organ and then create copies to be placed in churches across Europe and the world so its music is accessible to all.
“This is an amazing set of information that allows us to reconstruct the manufacturing process so that we can build pipes exactly as they were made,” about a thousand years ago, said Catalunya.