Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Walt Disney headquarters in Burbank, California, on Thursday to condemn the company's suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show. The protest, estimated to have drawn between 200 and 300 people, featured signs labelling Disney executives as “cowards”, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Similar demonstrations took place in New York and outside the Hollywood studio where Kimmel's show is filmed.
Disney, which owns ABC, suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely on Wednesday night after Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, made threatening remarks about regulatory consequences for comments Kimmel made about President Trump and the MAGA movement's response to the killing of Charlie Kirk. Crowds in Burbank accused chief executive Bob Iger and other executives of “bending the knee” to the Trump administration, with calls for boycotts of Disney.
Around 100 people demonstrated outside ABC's studios in New York, where chants of “un-American” and “Kimmel must stay, Iger must go” were heard. A third protest outside the Hollywood studio hosting the show heard chants of “Down with the FCC” and “ABC bent the knee”, according to Variety.
Writers Guild of America West, which promoted the Burbank demonstration, condemned the suspension in a statement, saying: “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. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice.” Konstantine Anthony, a Burbank city council member, carried a sign reading “Did you even watch Andor?” and told the Hollywood Reporter: “I believe that Disney and ABC are 100% responsible. They gave zero pushback.”
Other protesters held signs noting the controversy echoed the plot of the Star Wars spinoff “Andor”, which focuses on the fight against authoritarianism. One poster read “No bread and no circus?”, an apparent reference to the administration’s targeting of a popular entertainer amid public concerns over rising prices and the economy. Meredith Stiehm, president of the Writers Guild of America West, said: “We want Jimmy Kimmel back on the air and we will keep speaking up and putting pressure in any way we can until that happens.”
