Disney faced the consequences of its decision to yank “Jimmy Kimmel Live” off the air as protestors gathered Thursday outside the Mouse House’s headquarters in Burbank and New York.
The crowds slammed ABC, Disney and Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr set off a chain of events Wednesday with his comments in a podcast interview that threatened Disney with another FCC investigation over Kimmel’s recent comments related to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. As many prostestors observed, Carr’s actions that take direct aim at Trump‘s loudest critics are without precedent for any FCC leader in the 90-plus year history of the commission.
“Every red line has been crossed,” read one protest sign outside of Disney headquarters in Burbank. At least 200 people gathered starting at around noon PT on Alameda Avenue outside the main entrance to Disney. Burbank Police were visible in the area but the crowds stayed peaceful, if noisy. After about an hour, Disney closed the gates to the entrance, which allowed protesters to fill the crosswalk and driveway entrance. Protesters also gathered outside ABC’s offices in Hudson Yards and outside the theater on Hollywood Boulevard where Kimmel typically tapes his late-night show.
Michael Buckner
ABC abruptly pulled Kimmel off the air on Wednesday amid a mushrooming controversy that started in right-wing media outlets and was magnified on Tuesday by Fox News. Conservatives took offense at Kimmel’s remark that the suspected killer of Kirk was “one of them,” meaning from a conservative background. Nexstar, the largest owner of TV stations in the country, issued a statement declaring that it would yank “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from the 32 ABC stations that the company owns or operates. Shortly thereafter, Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns more than three dozen ABC affiliate stations, chimed in demanding an apology from Kimmel.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
In New York, a group of roughly 100 protestors gathered in front of ABC’s headquarters. In between chants of “Kimmel stays, Trump must go” and “ABC, grow a spine,” Alex Bores, assemblymember for the 73rd District of New York, spoke out against corporations making business decisions based on the will of the Trump administration.
“When it comes to screwing their workers, when it comes to denying healthcare, they have a spine. They know how to stand up,” he said. “But when it comes to these fascists, when it comes to these threats, [they don’t]. This is unacceptable. We need to make it absolutely clear that there are consequences for them. We cannot let them forget that we, the people, are watching them.”
“But I don’t want to take the pressure off of the government,” he continued. “The right wants to say, ‘Corporations make that decision.’ That’s not why we’re out here protesting. We’re out here protesting because the government told them take someone off the air because of political speech.”
“It was blatantly un-American from a regime that is blatantly un-American,” he concluded, and the crowd shouted the word “un-American” along with him.
As the event came to a close, a man named Mark from the organization Act Up called on protestors to focus their anger on Disney CEO Bob Iger in addition to Trump. “Spread the word: We need to make this man as hated as Donald Trump and everybody else who is enabling him.” He led the crowd in a chant of “Kimmel must stay, Iger must go” as the crowd dispersed.
Michael Buckner
More to come
(Michael Buckner contributed to this report.)
From Variety US