[State Sponsored Cancel Culture] Disney cancels the Jimmy Kimmel Show after government pressure

I am legitimately trying to understand what Kimmel said that required this response..

 

I acknowledge that this is an issue. Another way of spinning it however, rather than saying they are "cozying up" to Trump, they are simply trying to fly under the radar and not attract Trump's attention. This is in fact what successful universities are doing as a means of coping with the Trump 2.0 onslaught as a means of biding time until 2028. That's a very different action than "cozying up" to Trump.

That said, I have no idea whether ABC is trying to fly under the radar here or cozying up to Trump. As I said earlier, none of us are privy to the actual thought process that went into the Kimmel suspension.

I'm still not convinced. I believe a lot of people have overreacted to the alleged threats. And ABC sure didn't help matters by capitulating so quickly and in such a dramatic fashion. Seems almost . . . premeditated. As Kimmel was in the final year of his likely final contract, perhaps ABC is exploiting Kimmel as a sacrificial lamb.

The FCC is a regulatory agency. It's job is to regulate. I don't see how the FCC chair speculating about regulation is something he "shouldn't have" done.

 

I don’t know if you find his point compelling or you are just stating it. The issue isn’t Kimmel losing his job. It’s the government threatening to punish broadcasters for saying things Trump doesn’t like. Attacking those who speak out against this unless they issue the requisite amount of lamentation over some other tragedy is just cheap whataboutism.

 

Do you feel safer? Do you feel the public better off than it was Tuesday night when Kimmel was allowed to be on ABC?

 

The consensus of the left mainstream media about the Kirk assassination has been to make jokes about it?

Wow, thats crazy if true.


I can't speak to the cares of an entire media apparatus, but I can note that the attack on Kirk was a singular event by a random sick person. The issue at hand with this administration looking to do political censorship and authoritarian control of media is just an entirely different beast.

Comparing the two seems a bit asinine.

 

Trump has attacked thousands and thousands of his critics over the past dozen years. All of a sudden we're upset when ABC chooses this moment to divest itself of a problematic TV host, and it's Trump's fault? Again, if ABC cared either about Kimmel or about free speech, they would have ignored Carr and Trump.

 

related

Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension just latest example of Disney yanking celebrities off the air — joining ranks of Roseanne, Gina Carano

https://nypost.com/2025/09/18/us-ne...bill-maher-in-falling-to-abcs-cancel-culture/

excerpt:

Kimmel’s direct time slot predecessor, comedian Bill Maher, was another ex-ABCer who got the ax for an ill-timed hot take.

Maher was canned from his long-running ABC talk show “Politically Incorrect” in 2022 when advertisers started jumping ship after he made controversial comments just six days after the 9/11 attacks.

On a Sept. 17, 2001 episode, Maher argued that the terrorists involved in the plot were “not cowardly,” instead saying “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, [it’s] not cowardly.”

Maher apologized, explaining his “cowardly” quip was aimed at US military policy, as opposed to the soldiers themselves.

But the damage was already done, the show was canceled the following June, however ABC claimed it was due to declining ratings as opposed to the controversy.

The show was replaced in the network’s lineup by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in January 2003.
​

more at the link

 

I don’t know what to say. You seem constitutionally unable to perceive or care about the threat this administration poses to our democracy.

 

I do not believe this particular incident rises to the level of a threat to our democracy. Let's face it--Trump has been an existential threat to democracy for the past ten years.

 

The threat has been building over years, and each passing day it gets more and more obvious. Someone made an analogy earlier in this thread about a frog gradually being boiled alive. Your post reminds me of that.

 

Unrepentant Jimmy Kimmel refused to apologize after Charlie Kirk outrage — and planned to double-down on MAGA attacks: report

https://nypost.com/2025/09/18/media/ujimmy-kimmel-refused-to-apologize-after-charlie-kirk-outrage/

excerpt:

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel said he was unwilling to apologize for his remarks that blamed MAGA supporters for killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk — and said he was going to double down on attacking President Trump’s backers before he was yanked from the air, according to new reports.

Kimmel learned in a phone call from top Disney exec Dana Walden on Wednesday afternoon that his show was being removed indefinitely, Deadline reported, citing sources.

During the call, Kimmel reportedly refused to comply with calls from critics and the owners of dozens of ABC affiliate stations for him to apologize.

***
Disney, however, felt that if Kimmel had doubled down on his MAGA comments, the company would have been forced to make a more drastic decision than simply suspending the show, sources told Deadline.
​

more at the link

 

and again, I'll reiterate that I see the Kimmel situation as more of an employment termination decision by Disney and ABC, as suggested in the post just above about Kimmel "doubling down."

If, IF, Kimmel were told by Disney during that phone call that if he just apologized he could remain on air, and IF Kimmel refused, then what you have here in fact is, rather than a totalitarian threat to democracy posed by Trump/Hitler, an insubordinate employee refusing to comply with a reasonable request by his employer. Period.

Organizations go through these kinds of public relations messes all the time. Firing an employee is not a threat to democracy. Taking a late night tv show off the air (perhaps temporarily) is not an existential threat to democracy.

 

What about the righty late night bullshit?



FOX MUST SUSPEND GARBAGE GREG GUTFELD ASAP!!! NOT ONLY DOES HE NEED A FAKE “LAUGH TRACK,” HE MAKES THINGS UP, IS NOT FUNNY, AND GETS SO EASILY TRIGGERED (LIKE A SNOWFLAKE!) WHEN JESSICA “JUST THE FACTS” TARLOV SPEAKS!!! FOX SHOULD SUSPEND HIM IMMEDIATELY — SEND HIM TO NEWS NATION (NEXTSTAR) WHERE HIS JOKES BELONG WITH THE OTHER FAILURES!!! RATINGS CRASHING, PEOPLE BEGGING FOR IT TO STOP!!! FOX DO THE RIGHT THING OR I WILL MAKE THE FCC “TAKE CARE OF YOU.” FINAL WARNING! — GCN

 

ABC insiders rip network over ‘stupid’ Jimmy Kimmel monologue that led to suspension: ‘Should have known better’

https://nypost.com/2025/09/18/media...immy-kimmel-monologue-that-led-to-suspension/

excerpt:

ABC insiders are apoplectic over the cancellation of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — and they’re blaming the network for not editing the late-night host’s controversial monologue before it aired Monday.

Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air “indefinitely” Wednesday night after the host made apparently false claims about Charlie Kirk’s accused killer — implying that he was part of the MAGA movement. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr seized on Kimmel’s comments in a Thursday CNBC interview, saying they “appeared to directly mislead” the public.

“ABC is stupid,” one ABC source fumed. “They should have edited Kimmel. They know Trump is after him. Their standards department should have flagged it. They should have known better.”

Carr and President Trump have zeroed in on major networks including ABC over their alleged bias and news distortion. Trump settled a lawsuit for $16 million with the Disney-owned network last year over defamatory claims by its star anchor George Stephanopoulos.

A source close to ABC said the settlement should have served as a “lesson” for ABC when it comes to sensitive political topics.

“It’s ABC’s fault. After what happened with George Stephanopoulos, they should have known,” the person said, adding that Kimmel’s monologue had “veered into political commentary” and away from “comedy.”
​

more at the link

 

good article

gift link, will work for everyone

Disney Pulled Jimmy Kimmel as Pressure Built on Multiple Fronts
The abrupt programming decision quickly morphed into a flashpoint for free speech in America under the Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/...e_code=1.nE8.FxJD.d6OqBz1fJ276&smid=url-share