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Editor’s Note: To uncover the truths behind our government and our world, WhoWhatWhy often comes into contact with media professionals who, on occasion, contribute to our work. This piece is one such example, and, in this case, the professional has ties to one of the companies mentioned. While this gives a greater understanding of the issues, they’ve requested to publish under a pseudonym out of fear of company retribution.

This week, in the United States, Jimmy Kimmel became the center of our ideological divide.

Kimmel’s late-night show was briefly taken off the air, and he wasn’t even the first host to get the boot. In July, it was announced that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, but here’s the difference: When Kimmel went down, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was directly involved. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments about the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death “some of the sickest conduct possible” and said the FCC “could do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Look, there’s calls for Kimmel to be fired. You could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this. Again, the FCC is going to have remedies that we can look at. We may ultimately be called to be a judge on that,” Carr said, continuing:

It’s time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, “Listen, we’re going to preempt, we’re not going to run Kimmel anymore, and so you straighten this out because we licensed broadcasters are running into the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion.”

Kimmel’s comments that were in question:

We had 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 with everything they can to score political points from it.

The comment does not violate any FCC regulations, nor does it go against any of ABC’s rules.

But, according to the annotated constitution, “The Court has recognized that laws targeting the press, or treating different subsets of media outlets differently, may sometimes violate the First Amendment.” Based on the historical cases, isolating Kimmel is likely a violation of the First Amendment. 

The tangle of corporate interests competing for regulatory favors from Donald Trump’s White House has led us down this dangerous path. Nexstar Media Group, looking to merge with Tegna in a $6.2 billion deal that needs FCC approval, immediately reacted to Carr’s comment by preempting Kimmel’s show on the local stations it controls and turning over his timeslot to another show. 

All of ABC — owned by Disney — took it a step further by suspending Kimmel’s show at the network level. This week, Disney and ABC reversed course, likely due to millions of complaints from angry viewers and a possibly related drop in Disney stock prices. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group one-upped ABC, demanding an apology from the late-night host to Kirk’s family, and a donation to Kirk’s family and his organization, Turning Point USA.

While ABC has now reinstated Kimmel’s show, affiliates owned by Sinclair and Nexstar will not be airing it. And the FCC has not rescinded its comments on the matter. Our Constitution is at risk. It’s been at risk, but this is yet another alarming step, stripping freedoms from us.

To that end, you can make a difference. You can make a huge difference here. The information below is provided by someone who has worked in television for more than a decade.

Here are the steps to take to scare these corporations and take back the power of speech:

     1. Unsubscribe from Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, etc. 

(Yes, they put him back on, but why not make them hurt for reflexively caving on this?)

     2. Contact the top brass.

– Sinclair media contact: Jessica Bellucci, jbellucci-c@sbgtv.com
– ABC programming: (818) 460-7477
– ABC programming comment submission: support.abc.com
– Nexstar media contact: Gary Weitman, (972) 373-8800

     3. Call your local Nexstar stations and your local Sinclair stations… even if they don’t air Jimmy Kimmel.

– Nexstar station list and locations: Nexstar.tv/stations
– Sinclair station list and locations: sbgi.net/tv-stations

– ABC station list and locations: ABC stations

When you call them, this is an effective script to follow:

Ask for the general manager or the general sales manager. Their news department is on your side, and the promotions department doesn’t care. Also, if you complain to an underling, your message will not be passed on. Everyone is terrified of getting fired right now and will not forward your message where it needs to go for fear of being “shot” as the messenger.

When you get in touch with the lead in the sales department or the general manager of the station, tell them the following:

I will no longer be watching your station. I also need a list of your local advertisers, because as someone horrified at this attack on free speech and the preemption of Jimmy Kimmel, I need to let them know I will not buy anything from anyone advertising with you. I have watched enough of your programming to already have a substantial list of these businesses to start. 

You may not have already compiled such a list, but you should do this at some point because TV stations have no legal obligation to tell you who is advertising with them.

     4. After you find out who the local advertisers are, call them and tell them you won’t support them if they continue to advertise with the station.

Post and tag them on social media so that they know about your boycott.

Every message counts. It’s really hard to sell TV ads to begin with, and local businesses will likely be convinced to stop spending money there.

The sales department will get nervous. Sales are the only thing that matters to local affiliates in this day and age. I promise you: Everything is tied to sales. The C-suite only pays attention to sales. I cannot reiterate enough that no one else will pass your message along, but sales will. They won’t want the head honchos to blame them for the money dip.

     5. Call the FCC, complain about the violation of the First Amendment, and speak out against a merger that comes close to monopoly: 1-888-225-5322, https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us 

If you think your voice doesn’t make a difference, in this case, you would be wrong. Sources at Sinclair and Nexstar say they’ve already been getting calls and emails from disgusted viewers, and if it continues, it will make a difference. Good luck in fighting to protect the ideals of our Founding Fathers against the willful attacks of our current leaders.