Jimmy Kimmel suspension puts Disney back in hotseat; writers hold protest

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(Reuters) – Film and TV writers held a free-speech demonstration in New York on Friday to protest Disney’s suspension of talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel and President Donald Trump’s efforts to punish broadcasters who speak ill of him or his murdered ally, the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

ABC, the television network owned by the Walt Disney Co, indefinitely suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” this week after Kimmel discussed Kirk and mocked the president during his opening monologue on Monday’s show.

Some conservatives were outraged by the monologue. The Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission threatened regulatory action, alarming Democrats and civil rights groups who accused the Trump administration of unconstitutional efforts to censor critical media. The owners of many ABC-affiliated local TV networks said they would not carry the show until Kimmel apologized to Kirk’s family.

Disney has been targeted by conservatives before, particularly in a bruising political battle in 2022 over a Florida law that limited classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity. The entertainment giant’s initial response angered many of its employees, which pushed then-CEO Bob Chapek to take a more critical stance that collided with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican.

On Friday in Manhattan, dozens of film and TV writers, including some employed by ABC, marched on the sidewalk outside the downtown skyscraper where Disney has its offices to “protect free speech” in a rally organized by their labor union, the Writers Guild of America.

In a rally organized by WGA in Los Angeles on Thursday, about 150 demonstrators protested outside the Hollywood studio where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is recorded, waving signs saying: “Don’t Bend a Knee to Trump”; “Resist fascism” and “Douse the mouse.”

Trump, a former successful TV host himself, spoke several times during a state visit to Britain this week to commend Kimmel’s suspension, calling the Los Angeles comedian untalented and denouncing him for saying “a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.” 

Kimmel, who frequently lampoons Trump, said in his monologue that Kirk’s allies were using the onstage murder of the 31-year-old activist last week to “score political points.” Kimmel also mocked Trump for turning a question about his grief for Kirk into a cheerful promotion for his planned White House ballroom.

“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend,” Kimmel said. “This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

Kimmel has not publicly commented since his suspension, and the future of his show remains unclear.

Trump also complained to reporters as he flew back to the U.S. that television networks “were 97% against me” and only gave him bad publicity.

“I would think maybe their license should be taken away,” Trump said. Federal law prohibits the FCC from revoking a broadcaster’s license for negative coverage or other speech disliked by the government.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said Trump should fire FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, calling him “one of the single greatest threats to free speech America has ever known.”

“We will not stand by and watch Trump engage in this targeting and retaliation of any kind of free speech he doesn’t like to hear,” Schumer told reporters on Friday.

Carr said on Thursday that he is “not going anywhere” and vowed to continue his work taking on media firms and defending the “public interest.”

(Reporting Jonathan Allen and Kylie Cooper in New York; Additional reporting by Tom Hals and Andrew Hay; Editing by Daniel Wallis)