Damon Lindelof has vowed not to work with Disney until “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is reinstated on ABC. Disney-owned ABC decided on Wednesday to “indefinitely” suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show over backlash against comments the host made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon,” wrote Lindelof, best known for creating “Lost,” which aired on ABC for six seasons from 2004 to 2010. “If it isn’t, I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it.”
He concluded the lengthy caption on his Instagram post saying, “If you’re about to fire up in my comments, just ask yourself if you know the difference between hate speech and a joke. I think you still do.”
View this post on Instagram
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Lindelof, who also created HBO’s “Watchmen” and “The Leftovers,” is one of the first major names in Hollywood to sound off against Disney. Earlier on Thursday, “Sorry to Bother You” filmmaker Boots Riley suggested the Directors Guild of America should impose a strike against Disney-affiliated projects.
“If DGA has its members not show up for any ABC/Disney/Hulu/Marvel show until they reverse the Kimmel decision, they’ll reverse the decision within hours AT MOST,” he wrote on X. “DGA has only gone on strike once. It was so powerful it only took 19 hours til demands were met.”
Hollywood unions, including the Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, and the American Federation of Musicians, have all released statements in support of Kimmel.
“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,” the WGA wrote in a statement. “It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.”
More to come…
From Variety US