In the hours after ABC decided to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live over the host’s comments about the death of Charlie Kirk, celebrities, creatives, politicians, and trade unions took to social media to decry the decision. Now, the response has escalated, as both big names and regular folks are encouraging a boycott of not just ABC but parent company Disney, which covers a lot of turf in Hollywood.
Damon Lindelof, whose credits include the long-running ABC sci-fi mystery series Lost as well as HBO’s Watchmen and The Leftovers, posted a message of support for Kimmel on Instagram. He also noted that if Kimmel’s suspension isn’t lifted soon, “I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it.” (Lindelof’s current project is Lanterns, a DC Studios series headed to HBO next year.)
Also on Instagram, Tatiana Maslany—whose many credits include playing the title character on the Marvel Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law—posted a story encouraging followers to cancel their subscriptions to the company’s stable of streamers, including Disney+.
Ordinary folks who don’t have a show-biz stake are also speaking out, with posts calling for a boycott of ABC and/or Disney going viral on on X/Twitter, as well as tales of people who have cancelled their subscriptions to Disney+ and other affiliated platforms. (A search of hashtags like #BoycottDisney and #BoycottABCNetwork yields many examples.)
According to Bloomberg, there may be some new movement on Kimmel’s situation: “Walt Disney Co. executives will meet Thursday with suspended talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel to discuss the future of his program, according to three people with knowledge of the matter,” the site writes. “The parties will discuss whether there’s a way to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to the air, according to the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified.”
The Hollywood Reporter cited its own anonymous source in its own report from earlier today: “Disney is still trying to find a path back to Jimmy Kimmel Live!, according to the source. At the top, executives are hopeful, but note that the future is up to Kimmel’s willingness to participate in the cooling-off process.”
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