Disney appears to be standing by ABC’s fiercely anti-Trump late night host, Jimmy Kimmel—again—after Melania Trump said “enough is enough” over an offensive joke Kimmel made calling her an “expectant widow” days before a gunman stormed the Washington Hilton in an attempt to assassinate the president. Kimmel’s defenders say Disney must hold fast and defend his right to free speech. But the famously left-wing Walt Disney Company has in recent years taken a different stance when it comes to its tiny handful of conservative stars.
Disney fired Gina Carano, perhaps the biggest star of its Mandalorian hit after Pedro Pascal, in 2021 over a series of tweets that culminated in a comparison of conservatives living in America to Jews under Nazi Germany. And Disney pushed out longtime Bachelor host Chris Harrison in 2021 after he defended a contestant who attended an Antebellum-themed party.
Disney-owned ABC also canceled Roseanne Barr’s hit show, Roseanne, in 2018, over the conservative comedian’s provocative tweets. The final straw was an off-color tweet that depicted longtime Obama aide Valerie Jarrett as an ape.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said at the time.
As for Carano, Disney called her tweets “abhorrent and unacceptable.” When Harrison resigned under pressure, Disney said that “we support Chris in the work that he is committed to doing,” referring to his stated commitment to better himself by learning more about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Those moves stand in stark contrast to the media conglomerate’s kid glove handling of Kimmel, a powerful figure in Hollywood’s Democratic machine—and sharp-edged partisan—who’s known for his close friendships with some of the town’s most powerful players.
On his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! (which is not live) last week, Kimmel emceed a mock version of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, saying first lady Melania Trump has “the glow of an expectant widow.”
Two days later, Cole Tomas Allen, a Kamala Harris donor, attempted to shoot President Donald Trump and other administration officials at the event. Allen, 31, wrote a manifesto that echoed allegations against Trump—that he’s a “traitor” and “rapist”—that Kimmel and other mainstream liberals have made. President Trump and Melania, alongside other conservatives, have called on Disney and ABC to fire Kimmel. The first lady asked, “How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community?”
Not long after Melania Trump’s remarks, the Federal Communications Commission launched a review of Disney and ABC broadcast licenses, putting pressure on Sinclair and Nexstar, the largest distributors of ABC content.
The review of ABC station licenses is a formal step toward actually stripping ABC, which is owned by Disney, of its literal air rights—which would be a truly extraordinary test. FCC chairman Brendan Carr has said Disney is under scrutiny for hewing illegally to its aggressive DEI programs. But the Kimmel matter looms large.
Disney has so far stood by Kimmel without naming him in a formal statement.
“We are confident that [the] record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels,” Disney said in a statement about the FCC review.
According to liberal CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, Disney and ABC executives believe “that the MAGA media attacks against Jimmy Kimmel are not in good faith” and are quietly standing by him.
That’s stoked allegations that the network maintains a double standard when it comes to statements from its liberal and conservative employees.
“They have a history of punishing free speech, but it depends on what the narrative is,” former ESPN host Sage Steele told Fox News’s Jesse Watters on Tuesday. Steele was sidelined by the Disney-owned sports channel in 2023 for criticizing the company’s vaccine mandates.
Kimmel’s latest remarks are of course not an isolated incident.
In September, Disney paused Kimmel’s show over his false claim that “MAGA gang” was behind the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Nexstar and Sinclair, who both have conservative owners, also said they were suspending the show long-term. But Disney quickly caved after a cavalcade of liberal celebrities and influencers condemned the move. Nexstar and Sinclair also lifted their suspensions, with no real explanation (what went down between Disney and the station owners behind the scenes has never been reported).
Kimmel never apologized, winning a complete victory over his owners. In fact, shortly after the incident, Disney announced that Kimmel had signed a year extension, keeping him on the air until May 2027. Kimmel joked on Instagram, “I am pleased to announce another no-talent year!” This was a direct jab at Trump’s frequent criticisms.
Kimmel’s latest onslaught poses a major stress test for new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who succeeded longtime Disney chief Bob Iger in February. D’Amaro, who was based in Orlando and oversaw Disney’s highly profitable theme park operations, is not, like Iger, enmeshed in Hollywood’s Democratic power centers. But he is facing pressure from liberal advocacy groups to stick with Kimmel, a major figure in the Democratic Party. Kimmel hosted a June 2024 fundraiser for President Joe Biden, featuring Barack Obama and actor George Clooney.
“ABC and Disney must not back down to Donald Trump or any bureaucrat in his administration doing his bidding,” MoveOn, the left-wing activist group, said Wednesday. “Our members will fight any efforts to weaponize the government to punish speech and will hold corporations that bow to this pressure accountable.”
Jake Tapper, a former ABC News anchor and frequent Kimmel show guest, rallied to his pal’s defense this week. “This crusade against Kimmel was predictable because [of] the Trump administration’s attempt to use Saturday’s shooting as justification to stop all critical coverage, whether journalistic or comedic, of Donald Trump,” said Tapper.
In contrast, Tapper defended ABC’s firing of Barr in 2018, lamenting “a vileness that Barr has been showing to the world for years on social media.”
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