Trump slams ABC for bringing Kimmel back, suggesting another lawsuit
President Donald Trump suggested he would go after ABC as late-night host Jimmy Kimmel resumed his show Tuesday on the network after nearly a week off the air.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”
Trump insulted Kimmel and the host’s show and said he wanted to “test ABC out on this.”
“Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars,” Trump wrote. “This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” was yanked Sept. 17 by ABC — “preempted indefinitely” — after controversy over comments he made on the show in response to the Sept. 10 fatal shooting of right wing political activist Charlie Kirk.
That move prompted a firestorm of support from conservative voices and backlash from others who shared concerns of government overreach and censorship. After ABC’s announcement that Kimmel would return to the airwaves Tuesday, media companies Nexstar and Sinclair, which own about 25% of ABC affiliates between them, said they would not show it.
Pittsburghers were able to watch the show on WTAE, which is owned by Hearst Broadcasting, but some in farther flung areas, like Johnstown and Erie, weren’t because the ABC affiliates there are owned by Sinclair and Nexstar.
Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, praised the decision by Sinclair and Nexstar on social media.
”Notably, this is the first time recently that any local TV stations have pushed back on a national programmer like Disney,” he wrote, referring to ABC’s parent company. “And that is a good thing because we want want empowered local TV stations.
“After all, local TV stations — not the national programmers — have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities.”
And there it is.
On Kimmel, the Democrats are engaged in nothing more than Projection and Distortion.
Projection because Democrats are the ones that spent years illegally weaponizing government to silence dissent. And it is Democrats that will do it all again—as they are openly… pic.twitter.com/E3XRIvtBOJ
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) September 23, 2025
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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