The company, which owns and operates 30 ABC affiliates, insisted that its "decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence."

Sinclair said it will return "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" to the air on its stations Friday after it had preempted the show.

Nexstar and Sinclair had opted to preempt the late night show on their ABC stations, impacting nearly one quarter of the country.

Sinclair Broadcast Group said on Friday it will end its preemption of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and the show will return in the evening on Sinclair’s nearly 40 ABC-affiliated stations.

Our objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience,” Sinclair said in a statement.

ABC announced on Sept. 17 that it had suspended Kimmel's late-night show "indefinitely" after he made comments about Kirk's death.

Jimmy Kimmel is back on his late-night stage — and full of emotion. After a nearly week-long suspension, the ABC star taped a new episode on Tuesday evening, and he spoke at length about the controversy that enveloped the show, according to audience members who spoke with CNN afterward.

Any comments Jimmy Kimmel makes against Trump are expressly covered under a “media exemption” in campaign finance law, legal experts argue.