Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner Comments on ABC's Suspension of Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel’s show was suspended by ABC on Wednesday.
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner has commented on the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by ABC.
What’s Happening:
- On Wednesday, ABC made the decision to suspend its late night staple Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying it would be “pre-empted indefinitely."
- This is in response to comments Kimmel made on his Monday night broadcast regarding the killing of Charlie Kirk.
- Those comments caused affiliate station owners Nexstar and Sinclair to say they would pre-empt JKL on their stations, which ultimately led Disney to pull the show entirely.
- Since then, Disney (ABC’s parent company) has received criticism from Hollywood unions — and, now, one of the company’s former CEOs as well.
- In a rare statement on his X account, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner bluntly asked: “Where has all the leadership gone?"
- He went on to call the suspension “yet another example of out-of-control intimidation."
- On a lighter note, concluded the tweet by saying “this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny."
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! first started in 2003, back when Michael Eisner was still Disney’s CEO.
What They’re Saying:
- Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO: “Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment? The ‘suspending indefinitely’ of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC's aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation. Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.’ By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny."