Erika Kirk Says Sinclair Offered To Put Her On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' During Suspension

The widow of murdered right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk just revealed what one of the largest owners of ABC affiliates across the country offered her when they took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.

On Monday, September 15th, Jimmy Kimmel appeared on his nightly show and addressed the response to the murder of Kirk on the previous Wednesday, criticizing the messaging from the federal government and the right-wing media. After Kirk’s allies attempted to frame the shooting as an act of terrorism by a pro-trans activist, Kimmel called out the attempt at creating a scapegoat, saying, “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.” 

Two days later, FCC chair Brendan Carr called for local ABC affiliates to pre-empt Kimmel over his comments, warning that their broadcasting licenses would be at risk if they did not comply. The Sinclair Broadcast Group quickly obliged. Then, following six days of mass public outcry, ABC, Disney and, eventually, Sinclair all reneged and returned Jimmy Kimmel Live! to the airwaves.

This week, Charlie Kirk’s wife Erika, who has taken over leadership of her late husband's political organization Turning Point USA, revealed to Fox News host Jesse Watters that Sinclair contacted her following the Kimmel suspension, offering, among other things, to put Erika on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Earlier today, The Hollywood Reporter acquired an excerpt from Kirk's interview on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime, which is schedule to air on Wednesday evening. In the snippet, Watters brought up Kimmel's comments that led to his brief suspension, once again mischaracterizing them with the question, “Jimmy Kimmel lied about your husband’s murder and didn’t really apologize. What would you say to Jimmy Kimmel?” 

“Same thing I told Sinclair,” Kirk answered, “They asked, I haven’t really told anybody this, so they asked, ‘Do you want Jimmy to give you an apology? Do you want to be on a show? How can we make it right?’ Through our team, I responded, I said, ‘Tell them thank you, we received their note. This is not our issue, not our mess. If you want to say I’m sorry to someone who’s grieving, go right ahead. But if that’s not in your heart, don’t do it. I don’t want it. I don’t need it.'”

When Kimmel returned to TV on Tuesday, September 23rd, he apologized for any pain that his words may have caused and insisted that it was never his intention to make light of Charlie Kirk's murder. Kimmel also expressed his admiration for Erika Kirk, breaking down in tears as he praised her for forgiving the shooter who killed her husband.

Until now, the public knew little about the decision-making process inside Sinclair Broadcast Group during the Kimmel controversy. The fact that Sinclair offered concessions on Kimmel's behalf, possibly without consulting ABC, Disney or Kimmel himself, is alarming, though not particularly surprising – following their decision to pre-empt Kimmel, Sinclair publicly presented the late-night host with a list of demands, one of which was for Kimmel to make a sizable personal donation to Turning Point USA.

Kirk and Kimmel both said "No" to Sinclair, and in the end, Kimmel didn't lose his job for saying it.