People are boycotting Disney, ABC after Jimmy Kimmel's suspension: 'Hit them where it hurts' September 20, 2025 at 4:11 AM 0 Critics of ABC's decision earlier this week to cave to pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr and "indefinitely" suspend latenight host Jimmy Ki...
- - People are boycotting Disney, ABC after Jimmy Kimmel's suspension: 'Hit them where it hurts'
September 20, 2025 at 4:11 AM
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Critics of ABC's decision earlier this week to cave to pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr and "indefinitely" suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over his recent Charlie Kirk comments are now calling for a boycott against Disney, ABC's parent company.
"When government intimidation and corporate cowardice meet, free speech dies," former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, wrote on X. "Boycott ABC and Disney until they stand up to Brendan Carr's censorship."
As hashtags such as #BoycottDisney and #BoycottABCNetwork started to trend online, Lost creator Damon Lindelof announced on Instagram that he could not "in good conscience work with the company that imposed" Kimmel's suspension, and Tatiana Maslany, star of Marvel's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which aired on Disney+, urged her followers to "cancel your @disneyplus @hulu @espn subscriptions!"
"Every major talent that works for ABC and Disney should refuse to show up for work until Jimmy Kimmel is reinstated," liberal writer Wajahat Ali wrote on X. "Marvel movies need to shutdown. Ditto the sitcoms. Collective boycott. Corporations love money more than anything, & this will really harm them and force them to do the right thing."
The goal, according to political commentator Keith Edwards, is to "do to Disney what we did to target." Earlier this year, the big-box retailer faced a sustained boycott after scaling back its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in response to attacks from the White House and conservative activists. According to the National Newspapers Publishers Association, the boycott — led in large part by Black Americans — cost the company $12.4 billion in market value. Overall, Target's stock dropped 27% in the first half of 2025, with foot traffic declining 5.7% year-over-year.
"Hit them where it hurts: the $$$," left-leaning entrepreneur Brian Krassenstein wrote on X.
So far, Disney shares are down about 3% over the last five days — with most of that decline coming since Thursday, when calls for a boycott started gaining traction online.
WGA members at Protest ABC For Comedy, Criticism, and 1st Amendment (Organized by Burbank Against ICE) at the Disney Main Gate on September 18, 2025 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Deadline via Getty Images) (Michael Buckner via Getty Images)
The controversy started Monday when Kimmel questioned the ideological leanings ascribed to Kirk's accused killer, Tyler Robinson, and said members of the "MAGA gang" — i.e., supporters of President Trump and his "Make America Great Again" slogan — were trying to "score political points" by calling Robinson a left-wing radical.
"The MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said. "In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving."
(Contra Kimmel, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, has said the shooter was "deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology," and prosecutors have released text messages in which Robinson allegedly wrote that he had "had enough of [Kirk's] hatred.")
Speaking to a right-wing podcaster on Wednesday, Carr characterized Kimmel's remarks as "the sickest conduct possible," then said, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel," said Carr, a Trump appointee, "or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
Carr went on to suggest that the FCC could move to revoke ABC affiliate licenses as a way of forcing Disney to punish Kimmel.
Within hours, Nexstar, a major operator of ABC-affiliated stations, said it would not broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live! "for the foreseeable future" because it "strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk" — and ABC, facing the prospect of a major ratings hit and a rupture with its affiliates, announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be "pre-empted indefinitely."
Nexstar is currently seeking approval from Carr's FCC to acquire Tegna, another major U.S. broadcaster, for $6.2 billion.
President Trump praised ABC for pulling Kimmel off the air on Wednesday night.
"Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Speaking later to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump claimed that the "networks" and "evening shows" are "against him" — and threatened further action unless that changes.
"They give me only bad publicity, press," the president said. "I would think maybe their license should be taken away."
WGA members at Protest ABC For Comedy, Criticism, and 1st Amendment (Organized by Burbank Against ICE) at the Disney Main Gate on September 18, 2025 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Deadline via Getty Images) (Michael Buckner via Getty Images)
On Thursday afternoon, an estimated 200 to 300 union writers and actors protested outside Disney's headquarters in Burbank, while 100 more demonstrated at ABC's New York studios and others assembled in front of the Hollywood studio that hosts Kimmel's show.
"Un-American," "Kimmel must stay, Iger must go," "Down with the FCC" and "ABC bent the knee," the protesters chanted, according to Variety. (Bob Iger is the CEO of Disney.)
"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 Writers Guild of America said 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."
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