Disney-owned broadcaster ABC announced on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel would resume airing after his late-night show was canceled last week.
After a week-long pause when ABC faced criticism for its decision to cancel Kimmel’s show, close to $5 billion was wiped from Disney’s stock market value.
Why was Jimmy Kimmel’s show reinstated?
The Walt Disney Company, the owner of ABC, announced in a statement on Monday that Kimmel’s show had been permanently canceled to prevent tensions during an “emotional moment for our country.”
We made the decision because we thought some of the comments were inappropriate and therefore insensitive.
The statement continued, “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and we have made the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
According to experts, business interests were at play in Disney’s decision to return Kimmel’s show to the streaming services, with many viewers ending their Disney streaming subscriptions.
Consumers were “exerting their own First Amendment rights,” according to Susan Campbell, a professor of media studies at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, in a statement to the Reuters news agency.
Jimmy Kimmel’s return to the air is when?
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel’s show, will return on Tuesday night in its usual 11:35pm ET (Wednesday, 03:35 GMT) slot. It can be streamed on Hulu or watched on abc.com.
However, according to Sinclair, a major shareholder in local TV stations and the owner of more than 30 local ABC affiliates, Kimmel’s show would be replaced with news programming.
Why was Kimmel’s broadcast initially postponed?
Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on September 10th while giving a speech at a university in Utah at a crowd of 3, 000. Tyler Robinson, 22, was detained and charged with aggravated murder after a 33-hour manhunt. Robinson was referred to as “left-wing,” according to right-wing sources.
Kimmel criticized US President Donald Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters’ responses to Kirk’s death in response.
On his show, Kimmel said, “The MAGA gang is desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and using every means available to gain political points from it.”
Kimmel argued that Trump’s response to Kirk’s death was not “how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend.” A four-year-old mourns a goldfish in this manner.
Broadcasting companies Nexstar and Sinclair also pulled Kimmel’s show on September 17 after a general outcry from conservatives regarding his comments. It’s not known if Nexstar plans to reinstate the program despite Sinclair’s announcement to run news programming rather than Kimmel’s show.
Then, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr demanded action against Kimmel, Disney, and ABC, a move that the one Democrat on the FCC, Anna Gomez, and legal experts have criticized as “overreach.”
What do ABC’s decision to axe his program’s critics say?
Legislators, legal experts, Hollywood stars, and other talk show hosts have widely criticized Kimmel’s removal from the air as an alleged violation of his First Amendment rights to free speech.
Viewers have been posting online with hashtags like #CancelDisney and #CancelABC since the suspension on September 17th was made public that viewers had been canceling their Disney+ and ABC platforms Hulu subscriptions.
Additionally, some other famous people joined in. On September 18, actor Misha Collins, known for the television series Supernatural, announced that she is “unfollowing my @DisneyPlus subscription’ indefinitely.”
My @DisneyPlus subscription will be canceled “indefinitely.” pic. https://twitter.com/qpOeDj3LhZ
Additionally, at least five Hollywood unions, which include 400, 000 broadcast and film employees, have spoken out against the business.
On September 19, former US President Barack Obama published a number of articles and commentary on X, stating that, regardless of whether the speaker is Jimmy Kimmel, Charlie Kirk, or MAGA supporters, or MAGA opponents, they must be defended, with a clear, powerful statement.
Obama stated in a previous post that “media companies need to start standing up to the First Amendment rather than capitulating to it.” This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was intended to stop.
The state under Donald Trump has a “horrifying record of restricting speech, extorting private companies, and shedding the full weight of the government censorship hammer on First Amendment rights,” according to Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Who voted against Disney/ABC’s decision to halt Kimmel’s show?
Kimmel’s off-air performance was praised by Trump and his MAGA base.
“Congratulations to ABC for having finally the guts to carry out the required work.” If that’s the case, Kimmel has ZERO talent and worse ratings than Colbert. On Fake News NBC, Jimmy and Seth are now two total losers, according to Trump, who made the reference to late-night show hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
What has Disney lost as a result?
The Walt Disney Company’s stock dropped by 2.39 percent, or $4.99 billion, from its market value, between September 17 and early on Tuesday.
What other people have said about Kimmel’s reinstatement?
A representative for Kirk’s conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA, Andrew Kolvet, charged Disney and ABC with bowing to pressure in a message posted on X.
It’s not surprising that Disney and ABC are caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air, Kolvet wrote on Monday.
In a statement released on Monday, Gomez, the only Democrat on the FCC board, said, “I’m pleased to see Disney find its courage in the face of clear government intimidation.”
I’m pleased that Disney has the courage to confront blatant government intimidation.
I want to thank the Americans who fought fervently and vocally against this obscene attempt to restrict free speech, especially from across the ideological spectrum. 🧵 pic. twitter.com/7C4J7OPuTV
Source: Aljazeera
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