Jimmy Kimmel Live was back again last night, after Kimmel returned from his network suspension on Tuesday. There honestly seems to be a different vibe with Jimmy Kimmel right now. Like, suspending him over a completely appropriate and accurate observation actually woke him up and made him more locked-in than ever. It was said that Kimmel was feeling sort of burned out, but now that Donald Trump is targeting him so heavily, Kimmel has a new lease on life. Here’s Kimmel’s opening monologue from last night:
He obviously feels like he has the greenlight to keep criticizing and making fun of Trump. Which is great, that he’s not pulling his punches. Kimmel’s comeback episode on Tuesday also had the best ratings he’s gotten in many years, even with Nexstar and Sinclair’s blackouts. CNN reports that Kimmel’s comeback show got 6.3 million broadcast viewers, meaning people actually watching it on television as it aired. The YouTube video of his Tuesday monologue has over 19.5 million views. As it turns out, Americans actually want late-night talk show hosts to be able to mock the president, and Americans vote with their wallets and their attention spans. Speaking of, Semafor had an interesting exclusive about Kimmel’s suspension and what happened behind-the-scenes at ABC/Disney. Disney shareholders are threatening to sue over Kimmel’s suspension.
A group of Disney shareholders are demanding that the company turn over documents related to its decision to briefly suspend late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show last week.
In a letter to Disney first shared with Semafor, lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, Reporters Without Borders, Inc. and other groups, all of which say they are Disney shareholders, requested the Hollywood entertainment giant turn over board records related to Kimmel’s suspension.
The group criticized the decision to suspend the comedian after comments about the conservative reaction to the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk, and said that investors were entitled to investigate whether the company’s leaders “did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties” in deciding to bench Kimmel amid threats from the FCC. The fallout, which sparked criticisms that Disney was caving on free-speech issues and drew some threats from Hollywood talent to stop working with the company, shaved more than $4 billion off its market value last week.
The group wants any materials that estimate the effect of Kimmel’s suspension on Disney’s revenue, as well as documents that lay out how executives are supposed to make decisions around “politically sensitive programming.” It also wants copies of Disney’s agreements with affiliate networks Nexstar and Sinclair, whose initial threats to black out Kimmel’s show appear to have sparked his suspension; emails between board members, including CEO Bob Iger; and any communications between the company and federal government or political organizations.
“Although we are pleased that ABC did the right thing and put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air last night, due to the Trump administration’s continued threats to free speech, including with respect to ABC, we are writing to seek transparency into the initial decision to suspend him and his show,” the letter said.
“There is a credible basis to suspect that the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.”
This is a great angle to take, for shareholders to demand that a huge, publicly-traded company actually grow a set and stand up for American values AND stand up for good business. Once again, what has happened over the past nine days would be completely different if consumers didn’t immediately drop their Disney, Hulu and ESPN subscriptions. Artists immediately began boycotting Disney and publicly expressing their displeasure, which also affected Disney’s bottom line. Disney’s shareholders absolutely deserve answers here.
Photos courtesy of ABC/Disney and Avalon Red.
-
- Bob Iger – Executive Chairman of Walt Disney Company attend the World Premiere of ‘The King’s Man’ at Cineworld, Leicester Square, London, England, UK on Monday 6 December, 2021.,Image: 646691320, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/LFI/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
-
- Host Jimmy Kimmel on stage during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762344491, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Blaine Ohigashi / Avalon
-
- Jimmy Kimmel hosts the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.,Image: 855738497, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- CANNES, France on 18. MAY 2023; Bob Iger attends the "Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny" red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2023 in Cannes, France., picture and copyright Thierry CARPICO / ATP images,Image: 975637903, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Not available for publication in Germany or France, Model Release: no, Pictured: CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2023, Credit line: ATP/Wenn/Avalon
It was a ginormous financial loss. I think these shareholders have a valid case.
Walt’s probably rolling in his grave at what his company has become.
As with most things it comes back to money and share holders have a right to be pissed. Now I live in the Raleigh NC area where Sinclair owns the ABC here so now I will boycott the ad sponsors who place ads on this Sinclair ABC. Money talks!!
File a complaint with the FCC for Brian Kilmeade saying on on Fox that homeless mentally ill people should just be killed:
https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=33794
Boycott Fox, and tell its adveritizers that you’re boycotting them too:
https://www.trueusa.org/boycott
For maximum impact, email each advertiser’s customer service organization and explain why you are boycotting—encourage others to do so as well — this is America, money talks the loudest and customer spend matters.
Jimmy said he started out in Seattle–and that Seattle can longer watch his show. Amazing that Sinclair can do that. The new programming will capture many eyeballs that tme of night. How much news do you need during a day. So many other options. People will just go elsewhere.
And Disney etc statement wasn’t strong enough. I won’t subscribe again until the support of free speech is indisputable.
I would LOVE to take a look at the contracts that Disney/ABC has with their affiliates such as Sinclair and Nexstar.
What are the affiliate obligations, and have those two broken their part of the agreement? There must be some minimal standards to uphold in order to remain an affiliate of a major network.
Maybe Disney can refuse to give them access to football or Abbott elementary or the Bachelor. Ha!
I was thinking on this angle too. Disney should’ve done everything possible to kick Sinclair and Nexstar in the teeth, rather than giving in and let them dictate content. I’m not sure if affiliate stations are clients or subordinates, but either way, they shouldn’t be able to control the parent company using these methods.
I’m looking for Bob Iger to re-retire any day now, lol. Hire someone not named Bob why dontcha?
And I bet a lot of people are not signing back up with the price hike.
Someone inject that monologue into my veins! I love when Jimmy makes fun of Trump, because you know Trump is watching and you know it triggers him bigly. Keep going, Jimmy!
Yes! And as Kimmel mentioned, when even the rabid weasel called Ted Cruz defends your right to free speech, you’ve really gotten attention.
I’m not reactivating my subscription just yet. This was severe and heads need to roll as a disincentive for other corporate CEOs who decide capitulation is the answer to this environment. Bob Iger is not in a good place, but it’s his own doing, and I’m sorely pissed that they ever capitulated in the George Stephanopoulos case. That was the real wrongdoing, and that is when I wish we had all canceled our subscriptions. This needs to play out fully and it’s going to take more than a week. I can live without that subscription for a few months.
Wish I’d watched the fifth season of “Only Murders in the Building” before this happened because now NFW.
Yes, we do want comedians to be able to mock the president. With newspapers and the rest of the legacy media’s persistent sane-washing of Trump and his Jack-booted minions, the comedians are the only public truth tellers.
Isn’t that the pathetic truth. How far we have fallen, as a country. I am, properly, terrified of what the future holds.
Yes, we do want comedians to be able to mock the president. With newspapers and the rest of the legacy media’s persistent sane-washing of Trump and his moronic minions, the comedians are the only public truth tellers.
Celebitchy is where I come to get my news. Here’s my field report of what I’m seeing on the ground.
I live in a small blue dot in a sea of red, rural California. The Indivisible group I formed has been organizing and leading public visibility events in our small town (marches, protests, bridge banner events, etc.) since early March. These events have been really great. For No Kings Day in April, over 1100 people out of a town of 3600 turned out. But after the death of CK, people are afraid to protest.
Last weekend, we had the lowest turnout since the Inauguration, and the #1 reason cited by people who didn’t come out was fear of violence in the wake of CK’s death. And while we still had way more waves and thumbs up, the number of middle fingers was definitely higher AND the people holding them up at us are definitely angrier. As revolting as it is, the way Miller and Vance are using CK’s death is definitely working, just as intended. Trump and his merry band of fascist goons are now attempting to label Indivisible a terrorist organization and give the Secretary of State permission to take away organizers’ passports and deport us to god knows where.
After the election, I quit my job as a labor and delivery nurse, at significant personal financial loss, to devote myself to fighting this regime because I know for a fact that many women (thousands, tens of thousands, god only knows how many) are going to lose their lives or become permanently maimed if we do not stop this. And I know exactly what those agonizing deaths are going to look like when the fascist finally get their dream of taking medical care away from pregnant and laboring girls and women. I absolutely knew the Christian Right was going to find a way to take pain medication away from pregnant women for the sake of protecting the precious babies they actually don’t care anything about. Denying women pain relief for the good of the Reich is just the beginning of removing our humanity and turning us into breeding stock for the regime.
Knowing the stakes, I vowed at the beginning I would fight back for the sake of women and girls even if it meant my death. But, as happened this past weekend, when another white woman my age drove up to the protest to hand me her sign to hold for her so she could go home where she feels safe, I began seriously reassessing what I’m doing here.
When I look to the other countries that have been able to stop authoritarianism and how OUR SIDE IS LOSING no matter how often we tell ourselves we aren’t, I’ve been learning the hard way that the vast majority of white Americans, and I’m talking about OUR SIDE not MAGA, still aren’t really willing to do a damned thing about any of this if it costs them any inconvenience or disruption. Maybe it’s because of our privilege and entitlement, but most white Americans are still thinking somebody else is going to come and clean up this mess for us. Nobody is coming, folks.
After last weekend, and seeing how easily 1) Trump and his well-oiled propaganda machine can turn a murder of one of their own, by one of their own, into threats of violence against us, and 2) how wimpy the American response continues to be and will likely continue to be, my husband and I are now shifting our energies towards leaving the country. Yes, we have so much privilege to even consider this. But it’s looking more and more to me like most white Americans are totally ok with fascism as long as they can still get their Starbucks and Amazon orders delivered quickly.
I’m writing this, not because I think you should post it, but to tell you that I am losing hope, and I’m not the only Indivisible leader feeling this way. If your readers enjoy driving by their local protest, happy that somebody else is out there doing their job of keeping democracy alive for them, then I’d like them to know that the energy has definitely changed out here, and it’s not for the better.
We need a General Strike. And we need one soon. Americans need to take that same passion they used towards Disney and direct it towards a General Strike. We are running out of time, folks.
First of all, thank you for starting and leading a local Indivisible group. I know that it takes a lot of energy and faith to do it. And I feel your anxiety. I have “well meaning” white friends who express shock at what’s happening, but don’t do anything about it or speak out or protest. So many excuses. And ones who express shock AFTER I tell them what’s happened because they aren’t even following the news, because so far, none of this has touched them. But I also know a LOT of people who are getting involved in the wake of Disney who were never involved before. I didn’t cancel Disney when this happened because I had already cancelled Disney, as well as deleted all my social media accounts, opened BlueSky, and cancelled Prime, etc when the Orange Satan won the election. No more of my money to billionaires if I can help it. I can’t lose hope, though I see what is happening, because I can’t leave. I don’t begrudge you for leaving. I would too if it were an option for me. But I just want to thank you for all that you have done to commit to fighting authoritarianism. I hope you and your family find peace and happiness where ever you go.
Thank you for your work. We do need a general strike. Unfortunately, Americans seem to be waiting for the autocracy to implode in on itself, which it might very well do. I wouldn’t take the temporary cooling, in the wake of the Kirk killing, as a sign of things to come. As the administration’s failures pile up and Kirk fades into the distance, things will shift, again. Trump’s approval ratings are very low. They’re not going to improve. This country is very large. It’s not going to get easier to govern it, without popular consent. Don’t give up hope.
Wow, thank you @Henny Penny. I didn’t know about Indivisible until I read your post. I have just moved from TN (ugh) to AZ (my god it’s hot here) and it turns out the local chapter is having a meeting this Saturday. I will be there in your honor. This stupid and evil prick is not going to win.
@Henny Penny – Thank you so much for being a selfless blue-dot advocating for CA women ❤️❤️❤️
I told my son I was going to call the local Sinclair ABC station and complain about not seeing Kimmel. Then he started inundating me with suggestions. I did call the local and left a message. But I’ve decided writing a letter to corporate Sinclair would also be good, and call them out for being a bully. And anti-American. And suggest they should make a donation to Everytown for Gun Safety, or Moms Demand Action, or Sandy Hook Promise, or Coalition to Stop Gun Violence — if Sinclair actually cares about Charlie Kirk and his family being victims of gun violence, they should absolutely work against it. And protesting gun violence might be your route to getting people back in your Indivisible Group. The fact that Charlie Kirk essentially advocated gun violence in order to ensure Second Amendment rights should not pose any kind of a hurdle – just go with the anti-gun violence message first and foremost. If people want to link it to Charlie Kirk, let them, after all he’s another in a long line of victims.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Always a good reminder, Lady Digby. Thanks you.
Now if people can take the same action whenever there is a protest event as well we would be heading in the right direction. We need people to wake up and go out to protest events around the country, stalk your congresspeople and inundate them with calls and letters. This is the only way we can slow our descent into a fascist dictatorship.
Now, if only they would also investigate the earlier capitulation.