🎧 Emergency Pod: The Kimmel Crisis & What’s Next
Disney’s decision to yank its star under pressure from the Trump admin has far-reaching ramifications
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Late on Sept. 17, the news broke: Disney’s Bob Iger decided to “indefinitely” suspend one of his marquee stars, Jimmy Kimmel of Jimmy Kimmel Live, from ABC. The news followed FCC chair Brendan Carr’s suggestion that the federal agency would move against the company if its leadership didn’t take action against the host’s remarks about Charlie Kirk. In this emergency pod, host Elaine Low is joined by a rotation of our best and brightest to break down the shocking news and its chilling aftermath: Sean McNulty on Nexstar and Sinclair’s move to not air Jimmy Kimmel Live on affiliate stations; Lesley Goldberg with a play-by-play on Disney’s decision to pull Kimmel off ABC; Katey Rich on the historical precedent and impact to the creative community; and Natalie Jarvey on how political creators on YouTube and elsewhere might react.
Explain in simple terms how Disney’s “star” only averages 129,000 audience views per episode?
He’s no star.
You Hollywood types just keep hoping and dreaming that someone might care or laugh at outdated jokes and unfunny prototypes of antiquated comedy.
Audiences are already long gun into the vertical horizon and left Kimmel and the rest of his few remaining supporters wondering how and why.
What Jimmy said is a big nothing burger and, personally I’m disappointed in all the industry publications (especially yours) for not pointing it out. There’s literally nothing edgy or controversial in Jimmy’s non-joke. Clickbait is winning! For linear broadcast networks the affiliates hold all the power (always have, always will) but with so few eyes - our voices hold outsized power. So if there’s something you love or you hate, as one of the few viewers still watching network tv in a declining viewership model, your voice matters. If there’s a show on your local network station you love - let them know. If you hate it - let them know! Given the horrific state of the linear business your lone voice can have a meaningful impact. Speak up. Networks have always counted our voices. For example, in the olden days, there was a stat that one person’s letter counted for a 1000 voices while one persons phone call a hundred…meaning that for every one person who sat down to write a letter there were 999 folks who felt the same but chose not to expend the energy to write. All this to say, speak up!! Be respectful and don’t be afraid. Your handwritten note of “I love Jimmy Kimmel” (or whatever show it is that’s your favorite) will make an impact. In our current world these corporate formulas outweigh the political pile on.