Disney reinstates Jimmy Kimmel after backlash over capitulation to FCC

Station owners can still block Kimmel show

Apparently buoyed by Disney caving to his demand to "take action" against Kimmel, Carr went on to make threats regarding ABC's The View and NBC late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon. Carr's threats were criticized by Democratic lawmakers en masse, and a couple of prominent Republicans sided against him. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that "Brendan Carr has got no business weighing in on this," while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that Carr's threat to ABC was "right outta Goodfellas."

Disney reinstating Kimmel doesn't necessarily mean his show will immediately appear on all ABC-affiliated networks. Conservative broadcaster Sinclair said last week that "regardless of ABC's plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform."

Station owner Nexstar helped pressure Disney into suspending Kimmel's show last week when it announced its ABC-affiliated stations would not air the show "for the foreseeable future."

Part of Carr's strategy was to urge station owners to demand that Kimmel be taken off the air. "The individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this garbage isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities," Carr said.

The pressure from broadcasters came at a time when both Nexstar and Disney are seeking Trump administration approval for mergers. Anna Gomez, the one Democrat on the Republican-majority FCC, said that companies seeking merger approvals are "vulnerable to pressure to bend to the government's ideological demands."