Following the abrupt suspension of late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was suspended indefinitely over comments he made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's killing, one question looms large: Will his show ever return?

The answer is complicated.

During a Sept. 17 monologue, Kimmel implied that Kirk's killer, who has now been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was a member of the MAGA coalition and prompted swift backlash.

"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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.

In the immediate aftermath, the head of the Federal Communications Commission issued a threat to Disney, the parent company of ABC.

"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, said during a YouTube episode of commentator Benny Johnson's show on Sept. 17.

"Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities," he continued. "There's calls for Kimmel to be fire. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this."

Following Carr's comments, Nexstar Media Group Inc. said it would stop airing the show on its 32 ABC affiliates. Shortly after Nexstar announced its decision, ABC, which holds FCC-approved licenses for the local broadcast affiliates it owns, also stated that Kimmel would be pulled from the air.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also owns a basket of ABC affiliates, announced plans to replace Kimmel's timeslot with a remembrance special honoring Kirk on Friday, Sept. 19.

As of Thursday, Sept. 18, it was not clear how ironclad the "indefinitely" in ABC's statement announcing Kimmel's cancellation was. A staple in late-night programming, the show serves as a one-stop shop for daily comedy monologues and celebrity interviews, particularly for stars promoting shows on ABC and its parent company Disney. Over time, the hole left by Kimmel's absence in the daily line-up will certainly be felt by cable viewers.

While neither Nexstar nor ABC offered the public a clear set of guidelines for how they would proceed, Sinclair did leave the door ajar, saying in a statement: "We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr's remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks."

It clarified that Sinclair stations will not air "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" until "we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform." The company also called for Kimmel to issue a direct apology to Kirk's family and to make a personal donation both to the family and Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA.

Whether Kimmel will bend to such a request remains to be seen. His contempt for President Trump, who applauded ABC's decision, is well documented, and the show's fiery political takes could face an uncertain future with a could-be cancellation hovering never far in the background.

Deadline reported that Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden called the comedian directly to tell him the news, and that Disney CEO Bob Iger was involved in the decision; the outlet also cited sources saying that Kimmel was unwilling to apologize for his on-air comments.

For now, the stand-off remains.

Contributing: Anthony Robledo

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Jimmy Kimmel go back on the air? Sinclair's demands set up a standoff

Reporting by Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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