Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fired off a tweet Monday night praising right wing-aligned Sinclair Broadcast Group for refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel Live!, despite ABC ending its suspension of the late-night host.
Disney-owned ABC announced Monday that Kimmel would return to the air after the network last week slapped him with an “indefinite” suspension over a comment he made about the shooting death of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk. However, 70 ABC affiliates owned by Sinclair and Nexstar Media plan to preempt the program when it returns on Tuesday night.
“Solid move,” Abbott wrote in his retweet of Sinclair’s announcement. “You are a private company with the independence to provide programming that is best for your audience and for your bottom line.”
ABC executives suspended Kimmel after the late-night show host took aim at President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement in his monologue for seeking to blame the left for Kirk’s death. The host suggested that the suspect was actually a conservative.
“The MAGA gang [is] 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.
ABC handed down the suspension after Nexstar and Sinclair — which owns San Antonio NBC affiliate WOAI-TV and San Antonio Fox affiliate KABB — said they would no longer air the show.
ABC’s decision to punish Kimmel also came after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr suggested during an appearance on a right-wing podcast that he could yank the licenses of networks airing Kimmel. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he added.
Abbott has drawn criticism for praising his own commitment to free speech even as he sought to shut down people criticizing Kirk after his death. Not surprisingly, many who reacted to the governor’s tweet praising Sinclair labeled him an enemy of the First Amendment.
“Greg, not sure how to tell you this, but you represent all the voters in Texas not just the ones that think like you,” X user @HeyDukeJohn wrote. “Maybe it’s time you start recognizing that.”
Meanwhile, X user @CraigAbalos compared Sinclair’s decision and Abbott’s support as “fascist.”
San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT-TV will air Kimmel’s return at 10:35 p.m. Tuesday.
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