Jimmy Kimmel Live! will now appear again across the US, after two of America’s largest local TV station owners said they would resume showing the programme.

Sinclair and Nexstar – which own dozens of stations affiliated with national broadcaster ABC – had taken the show off air for more than a week over comments Kimmel made about the recent killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

Both announced it would be reinstated on Friday after ABC itself brought the late-night talk show back following a brief suspension over his comments.

The decision shows the power and influence national networks and local station owners have over one another.

While networks rely on local stations airing their shows for advertising revenue, local stations count on networks producing popular shows that will draw in an audience.

Kimmel’s return show saw his audience more than quadruple – despite about a quarter of ABC stations not airing it as the Nexstar and Sinclair ban continued.

Sinclair said it had decided to reinstate the talk show after “thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers and community leaders”.

It wrote in a press release that its discussions with ABC and parent company Disney were “ongoing and constructive”. The media conglomerate said it had suggested measures to promote “accountability” within Disney – though none of these have yed been adopted.

Nexstar also cited positive discussions with ABC, saying it appreciated the network’s “constructive approach to addressing our concerns”. The company said it was “committed to protecting the First Amendment”.

Kimmel sparked controversy by appearing to suggest the person who fatally shot Kirk, 31, at a university campus event in Utah earlier this month as a supporter of Donald Trump.

He said the US president and his allies were “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and trying to “score political points from it”.

He also likened Trump’s reaction to the conservative firebrand’s murder to “how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish”.

Sinclair and Nexstar pulled the show after the Trump-appointed chair of America’s broadcast watchdog threatened to revoke ABC’s licence – prompting the network to suspend Kimmel and triggering a fierce debate about free speech.

By lifting the ban, Sinclair and Nexstar viewers in cities like Washington DC, Nashville, New Orleans and Seattle will now be able to watch Kimmel’s show again.

Kimmel returned to air on Tuesday, expressing regret about his earlier remarks while hitting out at the Trump administration in a 28-minute monologue.

“It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” he said.

But he criticised “anti-American” threats to free speech, accusing the Trump administration of “mob tactics”.

“Our leader celebrates people losing their livelihoods because he can’t take a joke,” the talk show host added.

Trump was openly disappointed in Kimmel’s reinstatement.

“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” he wrote in a social media post.

A woman who went into hospital for a planned Caesarean section and ended up in a coma for four days has said she remains traumatised by her experience.

Amie suffered internal bleeding during the Caesarean section at Nottingham City Hospital on 26 August 2024.

But she said her deteriorating condition was not identified, and was only able to see her son Reggie for 10 minutes before going into a coma.

Her case is one of hundreds being examined as part of the largest maternity review in NHS history, and the trust at the centre of the inquiry – Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs City Hospital – has apologised to Amie over her care.

The 35-year-old, from Bestwood Park in Nottingham, was originally booked in for the procedure on 15 October 2024, but that was brought forward due to her increasing blood pressure, leading to Reggie being born two months early.

She said she was told the bleeding was caused by “blunt trauma” as the bladder was pushed from the womb.

Amie said she soon felt unwell after the Caesarean section, feeling faint with low blood pressure.

In a letter, which has been seen by the BBC, medics told her this was likely due to the fact she was losing blood into the abdomen, “and we acknowledged there was an opportunity for us to have potentially identified this sooner”.

It added had consultant obstetricians and anaesthetists been involved in her care earlier, her internal bleeding may have been recognised sooner.

Eventually Amie became unresponsive after 08:00 BST the following morning and was taken into emergency surgery, in which she lost more than three litres of blood.

“All I remember is going back up on to the labour suite and my sister coming with my two other children,” she said.

“I remember eating some pizza and then I don’t remember anything after that until I came out of the coma.”

Reflecting on her experience, Amie said: “It is traumatic.

“Some days I’m sat there crying, especially when I think about it, because I just think who would have looked after my kids if something had happened to me?”

She said Reggie was born with a number of health complications, including oesophageal atresia and skeletal dysplasia, meaning he will have to have both legs amputated.

Amie said: “When he had loads of scans, they said one leg was bigger than the other.

“He had to have a six-hour operation on his oesophagus because his breathing tube was connected to his feeding tube.

“He has a hernia on his hip the size of a tennis ball, a hole in his heart, no kneecaps, no tibia bone in both of his legs, club foot and a cyst on the bottom of his spine.”

She added, though, “you’d never believe” Reggie had so many health issues.

“He is such a happy baby,” Amie added.

Amie’s case is one of about 2,500 being examined as part of the independent maternity review into Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.

The review, being led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, has been prompted by dozens of baby injuries and deaths at the trust.

It has closed to new cases, and Ms Ockenden is on track to publish a report on her findings in June 2026.

Amie said she had been told her case was one of the ones being explored, but added she had not heard anything since.

Of the trust, she added: “I just don’t trust them any more.”

In a statement, Tracy Pilcher, chief nurse at the trust, said: “We recognise the impact that this has had on Amie and her family, and accept that earlier review of her care could have resulted in complications being identified sooner. For that we are truly sorry.

“A full review of Amie’s care has already taken place, and we recognise the importance of her experience also being part of the Independent Maternity Review (IMR) led by Donna Ockenden.

“Learnings from our review and feedback from the IMR are crucial in helping us to improve our services, and we are thankful for those, like Amie, who have shared their experiences with us.”