Entertainment workers expressed fear, anger and disbelief as they took to the streets outside Walt Disney Studios on Thursday to protest ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! following controversial remarks Jimmy Kimmel made about the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Protestors crowded the sidewalks around the main entrance to the legacy studio in Burbank, interrupting a placid Thursday afternoon under the studio’s Mickey-branded arch with signs that directed ire at both President Donald Trump’s administration and the entertainment company for allegedly capitulating to pressure from a political appointee, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr.
People who identified themselves as Hollywood union members mingled alongside others with no connection to the entertainment business, cheering honks from passing cars and raising signs whose messages included “Shame on ABC!,” “ABC All Baseless Cowards” and “You Can’t Please Tyrants.”
“It’s a First Amendment right. Our freedom of expression, our freedom of speech, is fundamental. And last night ABC and Disney broke that,” Writers Guild of America West president Meredith Stiehm told THR amid the throng of protestors. “Everyone’s shocked and everyone’s pretty furious and people want them to change that decision.”
The protest was originally organized by the grassroots group “Burbank Against ICE,” but the Hollywood writers’ union exhorted their members to attend on Thursday morning, which resulted in the sidewalk quickly being filled out with people in union apparel — not just for the WGA, but also SAG-AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians, some of whose members work on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
On Wednesday night, the WGA issued a strongly-worded statement about the Kimmel decision, which impacts some union writers, but members wanted the union to do more. “Our members are under attack and so is the core democratic principles of this country,” WGA West executive director Ellen Stutzman told THR. “And so it was an easy call.” A Writers Guild representative put an estimate of attendees at around 200.
A couple of local politicians, California State Assembly member Nick Schultz and Burbank City Council member Konstantine Anthony, also made an appearance to dissent the corporation’s move.
Brandishing a sign that said “Did you even watch Andor?”, a Star Wars show that depicts rebel resistance against an authoritarian regime, Anthony laid into Disney and its network ABC for the Wednesday decision to yank their marquee late-night host from the air. “I believe that Disney and ABC are 100 percent responsible. They gave zero pushback,” he told THR.
The remarks that thrust Kimmel into hot water related to the Sept. 10 fatal shooting of Kirk, a right-wing activist who was making an appearance on a college campus. “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,” Kimmel said in a statement that went viral.
In response, on Wednesday, FCC chair Carr appeared to threaten to revoke the licenses of affiliates if they ran Jimmy Kimmel Live! That same day, major local TV station owner Nexstar said it would preempt Kimmel’s show for the immediate future, which was quickly followed by ABC yanking the show “indefinitely.”
Anthony said of Disney, “They have a team of lawyers that can fight any sort of FCC crackdown on this, and yet they refused to. Not only did they refuse to, they preempted any action by the Trump administration by suspending Jimmy Kimmel immediately.”
Elsewhere on the protest lines, entertainment workers also condemned Disney’s decision, which THR has reported was made by CEO Bob Iger and co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Dana Walden.
“They’re huge corporations. They have to take a stand. It’s going to affect them too,” said SAG-AFTRA member Denise Pickering, who was wielding a sign that read “Remove Trump and keep the free speech.” She added, “What else is he [Trump] going to ask them to do? What kind of movies are going to come out now?”
Myles Warden, a WGA member, expressed concern for the chilling effect that the ABC suspension could have on free speech more broadly. “If we can’t talk about things that are happening in our country without fear for punishment from our president, then I don’t know what we’re doing as a society,” he said.
His thoughts were echoed by SAG-AFTRA member Chelsea Schwartz. “I cannot believe what is currently happening to free speech and a lot of what’s happening in general about rights being rolled back across this country,” she said. “I just wish Disney stood up more to what’s currently happening.”
As for what the protestors hoped to gain from pounding the pavement in Burbank, several said a repeal of ABC’s decision the day prior would at least be a start. Said WGA president Stiehm, “We want Jimmy Kimmel back on the air and we will keep speaking up and putting pressure in any way we can until that happens.”