EXCLUSIVE: Disney‘s risking a high-stakes courtroom showdown over what really went down over Jimmy Kimmel‘s much-criticized suspension unless the Bob Iger-run media giant coughs up some serious documents and information in the next 24 hours.
Filming from Brooklyn this week, the sharp tongued Kimmel’s been back on ABC‘s airwaves since September 23 after a weeklong MAGA-induced benching. However, for all the renewed attention on the outspoken and well-spoken late nighter and his upcoming East Coast guests like Ryan Reynolds, Stephen Colbert, Spike Lee, Emily Blunt and Bruce Springsteen, the real Jimmy Kimmel Live! action, or lack there of, is in Burbank today.
As of Monday evening, “the books and records” over possible “improper political or affiliate considerations” that Roberta Kaplan and other lawyers for House of Mouse shareholders the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO and Reporters Without Borders asked for on September 24 in a terse letter to the CEO have not shown up. The shareholders are calling out the Disney C-suites as responsible for “significant declines” (a.k.a. $4 billion fall) in the company’s stock in the blast radius of Kimmel going dark after the FCC chair started tossing his weight around about remarks the long serving late night host made about Trump and MAGA’s reaction to the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
Now money and specifically $4 billion may talk, but, despite laying out that the company “contact us promptly to confirm that Disney will permit AFT and RWB to inspect and copy what is being demanded, and to confirm the logistical details of that inspection,” it seems to have been radio silence from Burbank so far.
“This is a game of chicken, with someone getting out the way only at the last minute,” an insider told Deadline today of Disney’s tactics. “They know the stakes.”
Famous for her takedown of Donald Trump in E. Jean Carroll’s suits against the former Apprentice host, the stakes Kaplan gave Iger on September 24 was “within five (5) business days of this letter” to hand over the paperwork for “inspection and copying.” Failing that, with expressed concerns “the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith,” Kaplan and her fellow attorneys say their clients “reserve their rights to initiate an action compelling such production and to pursue all available remedies.”
Can you say (as the letter of last week actually does) “derivative lawsuit”?
Reps for shareholders main lawyer Kaplan declined comment today on the state of affairs with Disney and their demands. Disney also did not have a comment Deadline’s request on the documents and other information demand from the shareholders or where the process is at Monday.
Of course, even with Kimmel back and back on affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar as of September 26, the shareholders’ demand isn’t the only minefield threatening Disney. Having squeezed at least $15 million out of Iger and Disney to make a thin suit over ill-chosen comments by George Stephanopoulos go away last December, Trump is now back on the warpath with Kimmel being brought back.
“I think we’re going to test ABC out on this,” Trump posted on September 23 after Kimmel’s return show was taped but not yet aired. “Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
The clock is ticking.