What was supposed to be a tribute to conservative activist Charlie Kirk never made it to air. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns a number of ABC affiliate stations across the country, had planned to replace Jimmy Kimmel Live! with a Kirk special after ABC suspended Kimmel last week. Instead, viewers tuning in got something completely different: a rerun of Celebrity Family Feud.
Here’s how we got here.
ABC and its parent company Disney pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! after outrage over a monologue Kimmel delivered about Kirk’s death. That decision immediately sparked backlash, with conservative groups and some viewers calling for boycotts of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN. Sinclair and other affiliates sided with the outrage, pulling Kimmel completely and demanding ABC issue an apology, make donations to Kirk’s family, and prove “accountability.”
The plan was to give Kimmel’s time slot to a Kirk special titled The Life & Legacy of Charlie Kirk. But at the last minute, Sinclair shifted course. Instead of the special, stations quietly aired reruns of Steve Harvey’s Celebrity Family Feud.
Sinclair made the Kirk tribute available on YouTube, but its decision not to air it on television left many asking why.
As of now, there’s no evidence that subscription cancellations alone forced Sinclair’s hand, even though calls to “cancel Disney+” and boycott other services have been trending online. The safer bet: Sinclair was balancing audience backlash, advertiser concerns, and potential political scrutiny when it swapped out the Kirk tribute for something less controversial.
