Jimmy Kimmel Live! is expected to returned to Sinclair-owned channels next week as the talk show heads to Brooklyn, N.Y., to tape a week's worth of episodes, Sinclair announced Friday.
After Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group announced their plans to preempt the show, Disney, which owns ABC, temporarily suspended the show. Kimmel returned to air Tuesday and Nexstar is still preempting the show.
The decisions by Disney, Sinclair and Nexstar prompted protests and boycotts from critics who believed undue pressure from the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr represented a suppression of free speech.
"Our decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence," a statement from Sinclair said. "Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content."
Kimmel is slated to film at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House Monday through Friday, ABC announced earlier Friday.Emily Blunt, Stephen Colbert, Tom Hanks, Josh Johnson, Spike Lee, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kumail Nanjiani, Ryan Reynolds, Bruce Springsteen, Jeremy Allen White, Geese, Living Colour, Public Enemy and Renee Rapp will guest star, a press release states.
Sarah McLachlan took to the Jimmy Kimmel Live! stage to perform a song from her album Better Broken upon his return to the air.
