I hope we see a ton more of this.
Squeeze them with cancelled subscriptions and threaten their bottom line because talented people won’t work with Disney until Jimmy Kimmel returns to the air.
Emmy Award winning producer Damon Lindelof announced his boycott of Disney.
This is soft of lazing writing because they equate this declaration to refuse to work on shows with Disney until Kimmel returns to the air with people who have “criticized the decision”. Damon Lindelof is putting his money where his mouth is.
The others mentioned? Not so much. Still, I’ll take the criticism, but what we need more than that is concrete action, like Lindelof’s. Let’s see if anyone else jumps on the “refuse to work with Disney” train.
The creator of acclaimed television shows Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen said that he won’t work with Disney until Jimmy Kimmel’s show returns to the air.
“I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon,” Damon Lindelof wrote a day after Disney announced that it would pre-empt Kimmel’s show after comments he made about the MAGA reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death prompted threats from FCC Chair Brendan Carr.
“If it isn’t, I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it,” the three-time Emmy Winner continued. “If you’re about to fire up in my comments, just ask yourself if you know the difference between hate speech and a joke.”
That group even includes several prominent right-leaning comedians.
Andrew Schulz, who hosts the popular Flagrant podcast and interviewed Trump during the 2024 campaign, criticized the decision to suspend Kimmel and suggested that conservatives were not practicing what they preach when it comes to “cancel culture.”
“Right: Cancel culture is wrong! Unless you cancel the shows of our political opponents, then we’ll celebrate it,” Schulz wrote on his Instagram story on Thursday.
I have been finding it interesting that they “suspended until further notice”, which I think is more cowardly than cancelling. I’m guessing that cancelling would mean they would have to make some sort of large pay-out, and maybe with “suspension for cause” they aren’t on the hook for $$. Does anyone know?
Better article from Deadline
Hollywood was shellshocked Wednesday when, hours before Kimmel was set to start filming last night’s show, it was “preempted indefinitely” in an effort to tamp down controversy after FCC chairman Brendan Carr called the comedian and late-night host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer “some of the sickest conduct possible” and threatened that the regulatory agency could take action against Disney in response.
Hours after Carr’s comments, Nexstar, the largest station group in the country (which also currently has business before the FCC as it attempts to acquire rival company Tegna, a bid that would see Nexstar far exceed federally imposed limits on local broadcast station ownership), said that it was dropping Kimmel’s show from is ABC affiliates for the “foreseeable future.” Sinclair Broadcast Group followed. Shortly after Nexstar’s announcement, ABC said that it was pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely.
Deadline understands that the call was made by Disney top exec Dana Walden and CEO Bob Iger, a decision that has led to widespread outcry and spurred a protest outside of the studio lot in Burbank, California, Thursday morning.
There is another protest scheduled for Thursday afternoon outside of Kimmel’s studio in Hollywood.
Here’s what Jimmy Kimmel actually said, in case you haven’t seen it.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was, uh, grieving on Friday − the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this,” Kimmel said before the show aired a clip of Trump answering a question about Kirk from a reporter.
In the video, a reporter asked how Trump is holding up after the Kirk news. He said, “I think very good. By the way, right there, you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get, as you know, for 150 years, and it’s going to be a beauty.”
After the video played, Kimmel said, “Yes, he’s at the fourth stage of grief: construction. Demolition, construction. This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend; this is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
Update: According to Newsweek,
Jimmy Kimmel Off Air: Host Meeting With Disney Execs Tonight To Discuss Show Future—Report
Jimmy Kimmel is meeting with Walt Disney Co. executives this evening to discuss the future of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, according to Bloomberg.
The talks will focus on whether there’s a path for Kimmel’s late-night show to return to air after it was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday, amid pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr, the outlet reports, citing three sources.
Carr publicly criticized Kimmel’s remarks about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and even suggested regulatory consequences. Kimmel had criticized MAGA figures for politicizing Kirk’s death, prompting outrage from conservative activists.
That meeting was set for tonight. If they try to get him to agree to be nice to the resident of 1600, and be nice in everything he says about Kirk, I hope Kimmel tells them to pound sand.
Update 2:
Sinclair to air Charlie Kirk tribute during the Jimmy Kimmel time slot.
Shortly after ABC’s suspension, Sinclair, the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, announced it would air a special in remembrance of Kirk on Friday, September 19, during the Jimmy Kimmel Live! time slot. The special will also air across all Sinclair stations this weekend. In addition, Sinclair is offering the special to all ABC affiliates across the country.
The group stated it will not lift its suspension of the show on its stations until “formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.” Sinclair has also called on Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family.“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair vice chairman Jason Smith said in a statement. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”
Fuckers.
Open thread.
WaterGirl
I forgot to say a couple of things in the post.
Fuck Disney.
Fuck Sinclair.
Fuck every person that was part of this decision-making chain.
That is all.
laura
Not gonna lie, I finally cooled off, and I’m back to restart the My goodness Jason Momoa is, I’d cheat on my spouse conversation that the general zeitgeist is missing. You’re welcome
Also, not gonna cheat on spouse.
FastEdD
This is bad, don’t get me wrong. A horrible decision, no doubt, but…it seems to me legacy tv networks aren’t as big a deal as they used to be. We have so many more ways of consuming media. I know networks have the resources up front, but people can start their own YouTube channels on their own and attract millions of views. Yeah, I wrote ABC today and told them they were wrong. I’m thinking though something may emerge out of the wreckage where we can watch Colbert and Kimmel and it will be even stronger than it was before. Imagine if Colbert didn’t have to get bleeped out. Imagine if Kimmel could say what he really feels without worrying about management. I’m hopeful it might turn out better someday. Who needs networks? Fuck ‘em.
Carlo Graziani
Kimmel could agree to make nice, then air a nightly 5-minute feature “tribute” to Kirk, photoshopping him kissing black babies and rebuilding torched black churches, fake-quoting his sainted memory for epigrams of inclusivity and tolerance, and editorializing for the return of the kind of welcoming multi-ethnic society that Charlie surely would have wished for the nation. Maybe an occasional exegesis of one of his outrageous statements showing it for the truly kind and gentle, racially harmonious statement that it really is, once one gets past the actual words. All with a straight face.
What could they do to him then?
Ohio Mom
The only comfort I find in this is that I’m sure Kimmel has great lawyers on his side.
I have to admit, I’ve never been a big fan. Oh, I knew he is a good guy, but I always found his humor too anodyne for my tastes. But apparently, not anodyne for MAGA.
WaterGirl
@laura: I saw your earlier comment, and I laughed, and also made a reference to Balloon Juice after dark
SpaceUnit
Son of a bitch. I have to cancel my Disney stuff, including ESPN, and we’re only three weeks into college football. Son of a bitch. Goddamn it. Fuck.
Sorry for the language (not really).
WaterGirl
@SpaceUnit: Very much appreciating everyone who’s taking one for the team.
WaterGirl
@SpaceUnit: i’m sure the folks at ESPN are just thrilled with this choice that was made by Disney!
that may be another possible pressure point.
sukabi
totally ridiculous.. Kimmel’s comments weren’t even about Kirk or his killer, they were about the ghouls using Kirk’s killer as a political cudgel and Trump’s lack of Interest in anything but himself.
mrmoshpotato
Hope Kimmel goes all Colbert on this and tells Sinclair, and Kirk’s Nazi wife to go fuck themselves.
Jackie
Jimmy Kimmel gets the hook so that Sinclair can do this???
May it get less than .01% of the ratings Kimmel’s show gets on his worst airing.
eta Don’t forget this controlling what is and what isn’t allowed on FCC broadcasts is IN the Project 2025 Handbook chapter that Carr wrote.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: what is lawyer speak for go fuck yourselves?
JiveTurkin
What is the rationale that Kimmel’s comments were “some of the sickest conduct possible”? I guess calling for the euthanization of the homeless was bad, but not as bad as the non-deification of a racist.
mrmoshpotato
Stop humping Dump’s orange cankles, and start with gun regulations, Carr.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: I know! Absolutely appalling!
these Nazis need to be taken down a notch or 10!
mrmoshpotato
@laura:
ROFLMAO!
Manuel Sander
Well, Sinclair is about to find out exactly how small their margin of the market is.
ETA: And so will the advertisers wasting money to prop Sinclair up.
Timill
@mrmoshpotato: They need to ask Sinclair to publish exactly which words and phrases they found offensive to Kirk’s memory. I’m betting they can’t do that, because the offense was all on Trump’s side…
WaterGirl
@Manuel Sander: I so hope you’re right!
Hoodie
@FastEdD: IIRC network TV has dropped dramatically terms of audience and the average viewer is over 60. Of course, Trump is in that demographic and obsessed with TV because that was the medium when he formed his persona. That’s why he’s going after people like Kimmel. Most folks watching Kimmel probably only watch Youtube replays of his opening monologue. Kimmel and Colbert will be ok and probably come out the other side with streaming platforms that will be more profitable than the labor-intensive late night shows. I’d enjoy nothing better than to watch their cowardly corporate whore bosses implode but I think this is why they caved so easily. It’s all about the mergers, which are a somewhat desperate attempt to extract value from a dying business model.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Dunno. In an episode shortly after the orange shitstain got Colbert canceled, Colbert told Dump to go fuck himself.
The Morning Show – Canada
NotMax
@Hoodie
Colbert will be 62 in May. He’s earned a leisurely retirement (or part-time gig), as unfairly as it has come to pass.
mrmoshpotato
@Timill:
Of course not. It’s like the vague bullshit about knowing pornography when you see it as said by United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart.
SpaceUnit
Can anyone here recommend a good streaming subscription? I mostly like to watch movies and sports. Don’t watch a lot of TV shows. I’ve got a Roku TV. Now only have have Netflix and Peacock and some free channels like Tubi and Roku Channel (which are actually pretty good but don’t have sports).
kindness
Why is it that right wingers are the biggest snowflakes out there? And to think they always blame us for being snowflakes. Every accusation is projection.
Trivia Man
@laura: is a “Celebrity Hall Pass” still a thing? I saw it on an episode of Friends once.
Hoodie
@NotMax: Oh, I imagine he’ll take some time off and then do something like Conan O’Brien did. There are all all sorts of old farts out there with podcasts, Youtubes, etc. I get people’s anger with the execs, but I can see why they might think this fight isn’t worth it and ultimately won’t mean much. The wingnuts are striving to get control of all these institutions, but institutions these days – particularly in media – are as ephemeral as fucking butterflies.
NotMax
@
SpaceUnit
Check out Sling. Two options, Orange and Blue. One of them is geared more to sports than is the other. In any case there’s also a $5 extra add-on, Hollywood Extra, which you can tack on to either of them.
If you don’t mind subtitles, oodles of good programming on MHz Choice.
Might also want to check out the FilmRise channel and add it to your Roku line-up.
And if you are already a member of Amazon Prime, that includes their Prime Video streaming platform, which can be added to your Roku line-up..
Last, if you have a library card and your local library offers either or both option included with the card, there’s the Kanopy and/or Hoopla channels.
mrmoshpotato
@kindness:
Because yes
Some of them are avalanches.
Gvg
It would be more appropriate to air some sort of discussion or documentary about why political killing is wrong and escalates with bad consequences to everyone including uninvolved bystanders. Maybe with some examples that aren’t all from our own American past so that people would listen, and not be predefensive before they think.
I don’t like this guy, but I have been worried since it happened, that it would make things worse and even more violent in ways no one can control. The republicans are not trying to calm things down, but they can’t control the monsters they have created either. Most of them haven’t realized that. Most of them don’t realize that even if their movement does succeed, a lot of them would end up dead or jailed by their fellows on the way. That’s the way these things work. Hang out with violent liars that fantasize about sadistic things and you end up burned at the stake or something.
This is not just about white power, it’s got a lot of religious fanaticism in it even though a lot of them haven’t read and understood the Bible. They think they are Christians.
I am just thinking this through…but we are taught by our parents, the news, school and political discussion from a pretty early age to think about racial angles to what is happening. You have to be pretty determined and have some helpful closed in society to not see it, or else be rather dense and privileged. A lot of people are rather dense though. Not curious, busy, only notice their own lives. Anyway, schools and other institutions tend to avoid talking religion. Parents often talk about their own exclusively and may not know a lot about others nor their own sects history.why should they if they may change churches when they don’t like the minister? But it means they don’t seem to know about the Reformation and more than a century or Christian religious wars that happened as the new world was discovered and settled/colonized. It matters a lot. It caused a lot of the ancestors of our founders to take the risks of leaving and colonizing, it’s why we have separation of church and state. To protect Christian’s from persecution by other Christians. Those wars were about power and the loss of it too. The non Christian’s of this nation never were a threat to them, and they are about to remove their own protection but they don’t even know it. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
SpaceUnit
@NotMax:
Thanks. I glanced briefly at the Sling TV website earlier but didn’t do much poking around.
anotherlurker
I know this sounds incredibly stupid, but if Kimmel and Colbert and other good people were platformed on YouTube, I would pay for YouTube premium. I would even drop my very effective adblockers.
prostratedragon
Badluckgremlin
@SpaceUnit: I’ll put in an obligatory plug for Dropout.tv. All original comedy content, only like 7 bucks a month, and we actually watch it more than Netflix or anything else. It may not be to everyone’s taste – no dramas really, for example – but I consider it the best value of any of the things I stream.
Scout211
I just watched the Daily Show first segment. It was actually very good. It was reminiscent of the Colbert Report, with Jon Stewart reporting Trump news as if his whole newscast had been censored.
SpaceUnit
@Badluckgremlin:
I’ll give it a look!
Arclite
Who would have thought Charlie Kirk could continue the grift after death.
Jackie
@Scout211: I have it recorded so I can watch tomorrow – if the morning political shows don’t showcase the highlights before I actually get to watch. It doesn’t air until 11 pm – well after my bedtime.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gvg: it’s the white (and I would argue Hispanic) Protestants who have cut themselves off from their own history who don’t understand what a powder keg religion can be.
Catholics being a hated minority in this country are aware (or should be aware, Kavanaugh, Alito, Barrett, etc are sellouts to the oppressors) that the Establishment is against us and has been against us since before this country was established (every single Notre Dame fan knows that half of the country is cheering against Notre Dame because we are Catholic).
Growing up in Minneapolis taught me that as well (the Twin Cities are fraternal twins, Minneapolis is more Lutheran and St. Paul is more Catholic; in Minnesota you’re pretty much either Catholic or Lutheran but the Lutherans were the Protestant Establishment)
As a second generation Notre Dame alum I grew up with stories of the Notre Dame men throwing the Ku Klux Klan back onto the train when they showed up in South Bend (truth being a bit more complicated, see mentalfloss.com/article/503749/day-notre-dame-students-pummeled-ku-klux-klan as a fun introduction).
And then I read some SF book when I was in high school where I remember the Black gang member from LA having joined the US Army and being stationed in the Balkans and thinking that all the religious warfare was nothing more than gang colors (reading Eric Flint’s 1632 series in law school drove that point home even further, plus the joke about the guy in Belfast who was trying to avoid being a target of sectarian violence so he told the bomber that he was an atheist).
AI has even started to simulate religious/spiritual advice, but I noticed that it was almost always from a Christian perspective, as if any of these AI companies tried simulating/generating Quranic texts, their financial problems would rapidly become the least of their worries. arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/millions-turn-to-ai-chatbots-for-spiritual-guidance-and-confession/ Pope Leo is very anti-AI and won’t let his likeness be used for it.
if you read Charlie Stross’ blog, he has some entries about how some of the Silicon Valley tech types are trying to bring about the Singularity (TESCREAL is another term that pops up in that discussion).
cain
@Carlo Graziani: Kimmel should pull what The Doors did when they said that they would play nice and them completely fuck the broadcasters. Of course that was changing the lyrics to not use ‘fire’ because it reminds them of Satan.
MinuteMan
The Mouse is a Louse!
And Sinclair Broadcasting is way worse and always has been.
Melancholy Jaques
@NotMax:
I got sling so I could watch college football. I am committed to getting rid of it as soon as the national championship is decided. I anticipation of my retirement & income reduction last spring, I got rid of most of my streaming services, keeping only Disney – spit – Netflix, and Amazon Prime. I am so tempted to get rid of all of them just to see how well I live without them.
mrmoshpotato
Jon Stewart need to fuck off back to his horse farm after he’s finished blowing the orange shitstain.
Tonight’s Daily Show was a fucking disgrace.
Colbert is actually standing up.
prostratedragon
Art often — I’d argue usually — imitates life. “A Receipt for Your Husband” is the opening scene of Brazil (1985). Director Terry Gilliam based it and much else in the movie on practices he learned of in studying authoritarian regimes, mainly 20th century. We seem to be ticking off his checklist in life today.
Etc. It doesn’t seem accidental that the movie has a troubled censorship history in this country. It’s very good eye training.
NotMax
@Melancholy Jaques
To be honest I use Sling (Blue) primarily for MSNBC and for TCM (which includes TCM on demand) with the Hollywood add-on.
Old School
@mrmoshpotato:
I thought it was hilarious.
The Maria Ressa interview was depressing and eye opening.
mrmoshpotato
@Old School: Colbert’s opening
Colbert’s monologue
Who’s Maria Ressa? – got nowhere close to that far.
Scott S.
@WaterGirl: amen
Old School
@mrmoshpotato: Colbert brought back “The Word” tonight as well.
Maria Ressa is a journalist from the Philippines. She was the guest on The Daily Show and compared the Duterte takeover to Trump.
mrmoshpotato
@Old School:
Yes, they posted that on YouTube 10 minutes ago.
Thanks.
Elizabelle
@mrmoshpotato: “Shut your trap.” OMG, that is brilliant. I hope CBS does not take it down, but I guess the internet is forever.
Elizabelle
@mrmoshpotato: Good Colbert monologue. And then:
“Stick around. My guest is Jake Tapper.”
Yuck.
Ramalama
This Media gush fest for that turd podcaster on feels like the Tom Brady deflate-gate, except in the opposite direction.
lowtechcyclist
Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Sinclair vice chairman Jason Smith said in a statement.
I’m sure the “inappropriate and deeply insensitive” part has already been adequately demolished. But “at a critical moment for our country”? Puh-leeze. A racist, misogynist scumbag got killed. That’s not the way people should deal with scumbags, but people get shot and killed all the fucking time in this country. It’s a greater loss to America when some random schoolkid gets killed – which happens far too often, and can we do something about that besides ‘active shooter’ drills and turning schools into fortresses, please – than when Charlie Kirk got killed.
The only way this is a ‘critical moment’ is how the entire right side of the political spectrum is treating this guy as a saint that nobody should make the tiniest criticisms of, including quoting the scumbag’s own words, and is foaming at the mouth anytime someone points out that he was indeed a scumbag. They don’t care about reality, they just want vengeance on those they regard as enemies. Just like their orange god.
evodevo
@Gvg: Yep…my fundie co-workers (Pentecostal and also Baptists) knew NOTHING about the Reformation (Martin Luther, the reason behind the Episcopal church, etc.), the history of the Catholic church, their own Baptist history of being a persecuted minority in Europe and America… Nothing outside of their personal present. An ignorant populace is a dangerous one.
PhaedrusOnBass
“We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities….”
Which is why Sinclair is airing a Kirk tribute Friday night.
The cognitive dissonance is deafening…
Paul in KY
@laura: Jason wouldn’t want you to, tho he appreciates the sentiment.
Paul in KY
@Ohio Mom: The ‘4 year old mourns a goldfish’ comment was gold and the hit dog will holler!
Paul in KY
@NotMax: He’s always got that he is Stephen Colbert and that TACO is TACO.
WeimarGerman
@SpaceUnit: YouTubeTV is good for network sports, and other network content, especially because you have “unlimited space” in your virtual DVR. Its one click to record a team’s games forever.