Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner shared some harsh words for the media company’s leadership over their handling of Jimmy Kimmel’s indefinite suspension from his ABC late-night talk show after comments he made during a monologue about the suspected shooter in Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“Where has all the leadership gone?” Eisner wrote in a statement posted to X on Friday, adding that “this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.”
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC.
Newsweek reached out The Walt Disney Company by email outside of normal business hours on Saturday for comment.
Why It Matters
ABC indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, blasted Kimmel’s comments following the conservative activist’s assassination.
“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 during his monologue on Monday.
The suspected gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was taken into custody last week in connection with Kirk’s murder. Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Robinson’s political ideology was “very different” from that of his conservative family during an appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday.
“There clearly was a leftist ideology with this assassin,” Cox said.
The decision to suspend Kimmel has sparked outcry from free speech advocates and a boycott of Disney. Meanwhile, the Trump administration and much of their base have welcomed the move as a balancing of the books after years of progressive-led cancellations targeting conservative voices.
What To Know
ABC and Disney also faced pressure from Sinclair and Nexstar, owners of more than 60 local ABC stations, who said they were planning to “indefinitely preempt” Jimmy Kimmel Live! after Carr’s comments, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday, Carr called the late-night host’s comments “some of the sickest conduct possible.”
Nexstar Media Group, meanwhile, has a pending $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, which is subject to FCC approval—raising questions about whether corporate and regulatory pressures influenced the network’s response.
Eisner served as Disney’s CEO from 1984 to 2005 and has had turns as an executive at NBC, CBS, and ABC. Bob Iger, Disney’s current CEO, replaced him in 2005 until he retired from the company in 2020. However, Iger then returned in 2022 at Disney’s request after his own successor, Bob Chapek, suddenly departed.
In his Friday X post, Eisner wrote that “the ‘suspending indefinitely’ of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC’s aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation.”
He added: “Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest,'” he wrote, adding that “if not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment?”
The post is the first on Eisner’s X account since April 2024 when he celebrated English soccer team Portsmouth FC’s promotion to the Championship League, the team of which Eisner is owner and chairman through The Tornante Company.
What People Are Saying
SAG-AFTRA in a statement issued earlier this week: “SAG-AFTRA condemns the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Our society depends on freedom of expression. Suppression of free speech and retaliation for speaking out on significant issues of public concern run counter to the fundamental rights we all rely on.”
It added: “Democracy thrives when diverse points of view are expressed. The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms. SAG-AFTRA stands with all media artists and defends their right to express their diverse points of view, and everyone’s right to hear them.”
The Writer’s Guild of America wrote in a statement earlier this week, in part: “The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other – to disturb, even – is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.
It added: “As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to—painful as it may be at times—is the freeing agreement to disagree.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT.”
FCC chairman Brendan Carr said on Thursday: “We’re going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest—and if broadcasters don’t like that simple solution, they can turn their license in to the FCC.”
What Happens Next?
ABC’s suspension of Kimmel is open-ended as the network and its affiliates may negotiate next steps internally.
