Jimmy Kimmel should offer a 'sincere' apology for his remarks about Charlie Kirk's assassination and consider making his show less 'divisive' if he is to win over conservative viewers, a broadcast insider has exclusively told the Mail.

Kimmel, 57, was taken off air last week over his controversial comments about the killing of the Turning Point USA founder.

The host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! had said 'the MAGA gang' was attempting to portray the suspect in Kirk's killing 'as anything other than one of them.'

ABC's parent company, Disney, announced it had pulled the show to 'avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotionally charged moment for the country.'

But, after 'having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy,' Disney said the show will return to its platforms Tuesday night.

However, Sinclair and Nexstar, which account for a third of ABC's affiliates, have said they will not be airing the show on their stations.

A source with knowledge of the talks between one of the media firms and Disney, revealed executives remain in the dark about what Kimmel will say on tonight's show.

As a result, they decided it was 'too risky' to air the show and alienate conservative viewers of their local stations, the source added.

'If you're only going to have one-sided guests, they don't want that in our markets, affiliates didn't sign up for that.' 

The source said: 'We have no clue [what he's going to say]. They won't tell us. And as affiliates, we can't just go on their word.

'The team said "It's just too risky for us. We need to see what he says".

'I don't think we were given enough assurances.'

The source slapped down claims by politicians and celebrities that the boycott of Kimmel's show was 'the end of free speech'.

They said: 'We're not happy about anything. The one thing that no one tends to understand is that we're local businesses.'