Disney Is Scrambling After The Backlash To Jimmy Kimmel's Cancellation [View all]

Wholly unsurprising to anyone paying attention, the backlash over the abrupt cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live! is only continuing to grow and spread, and Disney is now scrambling to fix a situation quickly spiraling out of its control. After far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, reactions have been intense, but it's Disney's knee-jerk reaction that has drawn the most ire.

There has been considerable pressure from the right to crack down on anyone saying anything even remotely controversial about Kirk, and media companies have acquiesced to this pressure. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, Disney announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel from the air indefinitely after a monologue in which he didn't hold back about Trump's seeming indifference to Kirk's murder:

Kimmel's own staff, who learned the show was being suspended just before taping on Wednesday, has also been up in arms. In-person and Zoom negotiations between Disney, Jimmy Kimmel, and his staff, aimed at carving a pathway to getting Kimmel back on air, have gone nowhere. Reportedly, Disney wants Kimmel to tone down his rhetoric, as well as provide an apology to Charlie Kirk's family and donate to his right-wing organization, Turning Point USA, suggestions that have only served to increase the backlash.

Interestingly, some of the hottest anger over the decision to cave to Trump and Carr is reportedly coming from Disney studio executives and corporate management. The feeling is that CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden caved too easily to MAGA pressure and manufactured outrage once again.


https://screenrant.com/disney-scrambling-after-jimmy-kimmel-fcc-cancellation-backlash/