WASHINGTON — Democratic senators are launching an investigation into a pair of TV station owners that blocked the return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after it was suspended for comments the comedian made related to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
A group of four Democratic senators sent a letter to the heads of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group on Tuesday, demanding answers as to why they are prohibiting local TV stations from carrying Kimmel’s late-night program after he came to an agreement with Disney to return. The lawmakers are investigating whether the decision was made to appease the Trump administration as the two stations await federal decisions on broadcast deals.
“If you suspended a late-night comedian’s show in part to seek regulatory favors from the administration, you have not only assisted the administration in eroding First Amendment freedoms but also create the appearance of a possible quid-pro-quo arrangement that could implicate federal anti-corruption laws,” the senators wrote.
Four senators signed on to the letter, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
The senators cited two separate deals being finalized by Sinclair and Nexstar that would require approval by the Trump administration to take effect, questioning whether the stations are blocking Kimmel’s show to win the president’s favor.
For example, Nexstar is pushing to acquire its rival broadcast owner Tegna for $6.2 billion, which would exceed the current legal limit for how many television stations a company can own. If the deal is approved, Nexstar would control stations reaching “an unprecedented 80 percent of TV households in the United States,” according to the senators. That would require a green light from the FCC.
Sinclair is similarly involved in a merger deal seeking to acquire new stations, and has engaged in conversations with the FCC to revise the ownership cap — which would also require explicit approval from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Carr is the official who initially pressured the network to pull Kimmel’s show, warning “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead,” Carr told conservative podcast host Benny Johnson last week.
While the Democrats say those comments themselves should be investigated “to determine if they violate federal law,” they are also pushing to have the individual station owners be questioned on whether they made those decisions to influence President Donald Trump ahead of the major merger decisions.
“Suspending the show of a comedian critical of the Trump administration clearly has value to President Trump, who has been critical of Mr. Kimmel for years,” the senators wrote. “If Nexstar or Sinclair traded the censorship of a critic of the administration for official acts by the Trump administration, your companies are not only complicit in an alarming trampling of free speech rights but also risk running afoul of federal law.”
The senators are demanding answers from Sinclair and Nexstar about why they will not run “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and which executives were involved with that decision, what actions companies are taking to facilitate the Trump administration’s decision on the merger deals, whether top company officials have discussed “making other concessions” in relation to those deals, and more.
The Democrats want answers by Oct. 7, but it’s not yet clear if the stations will comply. The Deseret News contacted Nexstar and Sinclair representatives for comment.