Stephen Colbert Just Enraged CBS Station Owners with His Support of Jimmy Kimmel Comments: Will They Drop Him Too?

Stephen Colbert may have gone too far in his defense of Jimmy Kimmel.

On September 17, 2025, Nexstar Media Group announced that all of its ABC stations would stop airing *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* indefinitely. This decision came after Kimmel made a statement during his show claiming the person who killed Charlie Kirk was a supporter of the MAGA movement, a claim that has been proven false. Law enforcement, the accused’s family, and the accused himself reportedly dispute Kimmel’s statement.

Following a shocking political assassination – the first of its kind in decades – the public was outraged by a particularly insensitive claim. The suggestion was similar to blaming a supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. for his own murder, instead of his actual killer. It felt like blaming the victim, manipulating the public, and deliberately creating a false story.

Sinclair Broadcast Group did the same, removing Kimmel’s show from its ABC stations. They asked for a public apology from ABC and wanted to discuss what they saw as problems with broadcasting standards and a lack of accountability.

Following a public outcry and complaints from local stations, Disney paused production of *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*. While some politicians and online personalities claimed the decision came from pressure by the Federal Communications Commission, there’s no proof of that, and the stations themselves have said it wasn’t true.

Following Stephen Colbert’s support of Jimmy Kimmel – and a controversial statement Kimmel made – there’s growing worry that CBS affiliates might also choose not to air Colbert’s show, even though it was already slated for cancellation.

In other words, Colbert may not make it to the end of his last season!

Wow…Stephen Colbert declares- ‘We are all Jimmy Kimmel’😠 Seriously?

Honestly, it bothers me when people seem more concerned about Jimmy Kimmel’s show being temporarily off the air than about the fact that he apparently broke FCC rules by deliberately misleading viewers about what happened with Charlie Kirk. It just feels like the wrong thing to be prioritizing.

— Steph Anie (@mynerdyhome) September 19, 2025

It’s important to note that both Sinclair and Nexstar don’t just own stations affiliated with ABC; they also have a substantial number of stations affiliated with CBS. Here’s some supporting evidence:

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns a number of CBS affiliate stations, including KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah; KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; KBOI in Boise, Idaho; and KLEW in Lewiston, Idaho.
Sinclair Broadcast Group owns and operates television stations that are affiliated with all the major networks, such as CBS.
Like other major station groups, Nexstar owns channels connected to several networks. While recent news has centered on their ABC stations dropping Jimmy Kimmel, they also own many important CBS stations.

In early 2025, CBS announced that *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* would conclude after its eleventh season. While the network cited financial reasons, many people pointed to the timing and Colbert’s outspoken views on politics and business, leading to speculation that his commentary may have also been a factor in the decision.

Since Sinclair and Nexstar also own CBS stations and could react similarly, the fact that they removed *Kimmel* from ABC stations makes people wonder if they’ll do the same to Colbert after his recent comments. There’s growing pressure in many areas to stop criticism of Charlie Kirk, who was tragically killed by someone who disagreed with his views.

As a big fan of late-night, I’ve been following the situation with CBS closely. Right now, there’s no solid proof that Sinclair or Nexstar will actually pull *The Late Show* from their local stations, but honestly, given everything that’s been happening, it’s definitely something I’m worried about. It just feels like a possibility we need to consider.

As a longtime viewer, when Stephen Colbert announced he was leaving *The Late Show*, it honestly felt a little shady. It seemed like a direct response to him calling out Paramount – CBS’s owner – about some messy legal stuff and the pressure they were facing. It just didn’t feel like a natural ending, you know?
The decision to pull Kimmel’s show demonstrates that local stations are prepared to take action against network content if viewers object to misleading or offensive statements made by show hosts.
In areas where local CBS stations are owned by companies like Sinclair or Nexstar, station managers may feel pressured – whether due to political concerns, regulations, or feedback from advertisers and viewers – to avoid airing content they deem controversial.

Nexstar and Sinclair’s decision to interrupt *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* isn’t just typical late-night drama. It highlights the significant control that local station owners have over national shows – a power they rarely use, but are now demonstrating with unusually harsh rhetoric during a difficult time. Considering *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* was recently canceled (officially due to budget concerns), the similarities are striking.

Although there’s currently no evidence that Sinclair or Nexstar will cut away from Stephen Colbert’s show on CBS-owned stations before it finishes, the recent trend makes it a likely scenario. This raises a question for viewers, creators, and media observers: how much longer will it take for local stations to push the networks to address ethical concerns?

2025-09-19 19:58

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