Portland’s KATU won’t show return of Jimmy Kimmel. Here’s how to complain.

Hines Brian September 23, 2025No Comments

I was happy when I learned yesterday that ABC is bringing back the Jimmy Kimmel show tonight, Tuesday, September 23, after being suspended for a week after Kimmel made a joke about how the MAGA folks are worried about the killer being one of them.

But today I was deeply irked when it was announced that Portland’s KATU, our local ABC affiliate, wouldn’t be airing the Kimmel show because the station’s corporate overlord is the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

An Oregonian story says:

Jimmy Kimmel is set to be back on the air Tuesday night, but Portland’s KATU is among the affiliates expected not to carry “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

KATU is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which said Monday it would air news programming on its ABC stations instead of the late-night talk show.

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” Sinclair’s statement said. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

Reached Tuesday morning, KATU news director Danielle Frack told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she could not comment on whether her station would be airing Kimmel. A person who answered the phone on the KATU news desk, however, said the station would be “running local programming.”

This morning I expressed my dismay to the Programming Viewer Comments person who is listed on the KATU Contacts page. Their email address is stevede@katu.com

Just heard that KATU won’t carry Jimmy Kimmel show tonight. Very cowardly. My wife and I already rarely watch your station. Now we’ll watch it even less and boycott your advertisers. Free speech is admired by Americans, but obviously not by KATU.

Now, I realize that KATU may be forced to carry the programming that their Sinclair owner demands. But so far it doesn’t appear that KATU is putting up a resistance to Sinclair’s censorship of Kimmel. And likely the best way to put pressure on Sinclair is to put pressure on their local ABC stations.

So I hope as many people as possible email KATU (stevede@katu.com) and urge them to put Jimmy Kimmel Live! back on the air immediately. There’s talk of an advertiser boycott on reddit, so KATU would be wise to bring back Kimmel before a boycott is able to build up steam.