A spokesperson for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n
The blowback has been swift. Damon Lindelof, creator of ABC\u2019s \u201cLost,\u201d said in an Instagram post<\/a> on Thursday that he would not work with the company if Kimmel\u2019s suspension was not lifted. The Emmy-winning showrunner has a long-standing relationship with the studio, having worked with them on \u201cLost\u201d for six seasons from 2004 to 2010.<\/p>\n Tatiana Maslany, who starred in Marvel\u2019s \u201cShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law,\u201d which aired its first and only season on Disney+ in 2022, posted a call to her followers on Instagram to \u201ccancel your @disneyplus @hulu @espn subscriptions!\u201d<\/p>\n Many of those in Trump\u2019s camp, including Trump himself, are not backing down. Trump on Thursday posted to Truth Social<\/a> a clip of Kimmel at the Academy Awards reading out a real-time critique from Trump on his hosting, adding: \u201cHe made a total FOOL of himself, his wife and agent begging him not to do it, while also proving to be one of the Worst Hosts in the History of the Academy Awards.”<\/p>\n Some other well-followed media personalities saw Disney\u2019s move as a reasonable response to what Kimmel said. Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports who has at times been critical of Trump<\/a>, posted on X that the suspension was not an example of cancel culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is consequences for your actions,\u201d he wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance on Friday afternoon offered a fresh barb at Kimmel and downplayed free speech concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cJimmy Kimmel wasn\u2019t funny, his ratings were in the toilet, and his advertisers were revolting,\u201d Vance posted on X<\/a>. \u201cAlso the bellyaching from the left over \u2018free speech\u2019 after the Biden years fools precisely no one.\u201d<\/p>\n The news that Kimmel\u2019s show would be removed from the airwaves came on Wednesday evening, two days after the late-night host criticized some for how they responded to Kirk\u2019s killing. Text messages from suspect Tyler Robinson, released Tuesday by authorities<\/a>, allegedly said he targeted Kirk because Robinson \u201chad enough of his hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe MAGA gang [is] 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,\u201d Kimmel said during the Monday broadcast. <\/p>\n The move to \u201cindefinitely\u201d pre-empt Kimmel\u2019s show came hours after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to \u201ctake action<\/a>\u201d against both Disney and ABC over the comments, including threats to pull ABC affiliate licenses. <\/p>\n Nexstar Media Group Inc. \u2014 which has more than 200 stations in the United States and is waiting on FCC approval for a $6.2 billion acquisition of smaller, rival TV company Tegna \u2014 said it was pulling<\/a> \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d for the foreseeable future, starting Wednesday night. <\/p>\n Since then, many actors, writers and comedians have voiced and continue to voice their support for Kimmel<\/a>. Outside Disney\u2019s studios in Burbank, California, hundreds of people took part Thursday<\/a> in a protest led by the Writer\u2019s Guild of America and co-organized with the group Burbank Against ICE. <\/p>\n On Friday, Michael Eisner, the ex-CEO of Disney, appeared to criticize his former company. <\/p>\n \u201cWhere has all the leadership gone? 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?,\u201d Eisner wrote on X, calling Carr\u2019s actions \u201cyet another example of out-of-control intimidation.\u201d <\/p>\n In a series of posts on X, <\/a>Carr has maintained that the decision stemmed from local stations making \u201cprogramming decisions\u201d that are \u201cresponsive to the local communities they serve\u201d \u2014 something he claims Kimmel\u2019s show was not doing. <\/p>\n \u201cBroadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the public interest, including their local communities\u2019 values,\u201d Carr wrote in another post<\/a>. <\/p>\n Carr\u2019s role in Kimmel\u2019s removal also has caused some concern on the right.<\/p>\n Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday became among the most high-profile conservatives to decry Carr\u2019s comments, saying on his podcast<\/a> that what Kimmel said was wrong but also that what Carr was doing was \u201cunbelievably dangerous,\u201d most notably threatening the broadcast licenses of ABC affiliates (which Trump has also threatened<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cI like Brendan Carr. He\u2019s a good guy. He\u2019s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him, but what he said there is dangerous as hell,\u201d Cruz added.<\/p>\n Some right-leaning voices in the comedy community have broken partisan lines to criticize what they say is an attack on free speech. <\/p>\n In an Instagram post, podcaster and comedian Tim Dillon said Kimmel should still be on the air and called his suspension \u201ca politically motivated hit job.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who cares about the ability to speak freely for a living should be disturbed by this,\u201d Dillon said. <\/p>\n Screenshots of Instagram stories<\/a> posted by comedians Andrew Schulz and Sam Morril on Thursday also appeared to push back against Kimmel\u2019s suspension. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Epstein list won\u2019t be released but Jimmy Kimmel will be?\u201d Morril wrote. <\/p>\n Many of Kimmel\u2019s late-night peers have also come to his defense, with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert \u2014 whose show was recently canceled<\/a> \u2014 mocking Trump on Thursday night<\/a> in relation to Kimmel\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n In recent years, Disney has found itself dragged into a number of politically charged battles \u2014 and lawsuits. In 2024, the company settled litigation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> that started after it opposed the state\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill. <\/p>\n In 2025, Disney and its subsidiary Lucasfilm, which is behind the \u201cStar Wars\u201d franchise, settled a lawsuit with actor Gina Carano<\/a> after she claimed she was wrongfully terminated from \u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d TV series for expressing right-wing views on social media. In some of her posts, made in previous years, Carano had likened modern political divides to the Holocaust and mocked people who wore masks during the pandemic. In a statement after the settlement was reached, Lucasfilm said, \u201cWith this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n More recently, Disney\u2019s ABC News also settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump<\/a>, paying $15 million to his future presidential museum or foundation. <\/p>\n Disney CEO Bob Iger has countered the narrative that Disney has bent toward either political party\u2019s ideologies. <\/p>\n In 2023, he said<\/a> the company\u2019s movies had been too focused on \u201cmessaging\u201d when they should be focused on entertaining, in an effort to improve the quality of Disney\u2019s movies. The following year, Iger said his primary mission for the company was to entertain versus focusing on the \u201cwoke agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI like being able to entertain if you can infuse it with positive messages and have a good impact on the world. Fantastic. But that should not be the objective. When I came back, what I have really tried to do is to return to our roots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In addition to Lindelof\u2019\u2019s and Maslany\u2019s calls to push back on Disney and its products, other Disney boycott calls have percolated online in the last couple days, though it\u2019s not clear how widespread it has been or if it will have a lasting effect on the company.<\/p>\n A number of celebrities, including NSYNC band member Lance Bass and \u201cTransparent\u201d star Amy Landecker<\/a>, have shared screenshots to social media that show their cancellations of their Disney-affiliated subscriptions. <\/p>\n As the message gained traction over the last day across social media sites, Google Trends showed an uptick of searches for the terms \u201ccancel Disney Plus\u201d and \u201cboycott Disney,\u201d as posters declared they were leaving the streaming platforms behind. <\/p>\n Bill Simmons, a popular podcast host and friend of Kimmel\u2019s who also used to work on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!,\u201d said in a podcast posted early Friday<\/a> that he thought there was a good chance the show would get canceled, but that pushback against Kimmel\u2019s suspension had caused him to reconsider.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat changed over the last 24 plus hours is there was such a groundswell,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThis just felt like this became the moment. If we stand by and let something like this happen, what\u2019s next? Where do we go?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Disney's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250919-bob-iger-jimmy-kimmel-ew-957a-29e445.jpg\")
Chairman and CEO The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Oct. 3, 2019.Randy Holmes \/ ABC via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758317456718_now_brk_trump_brendan_carr_250919_1920x1080-7g24l1.jpg\")
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