Since pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air last week, the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, has experienced fierce blowback from politicians, pundits, subscribers and members of the entertainment community. That includes former CEO Michael Eisner, whose direct criticism of a lack of “leadership” at the company was a rare rebuke of his successor, Bob Iger.
Does the studio have any good options at this point? Perhaps not. A solution requires buy-in from Kimmel himself and there’s the problem that likely nothing will satisfy bad-faith actors in a scenario that would put the host back on the air.
On that score, President Trump prematurely gloated about Kimmel being cancelled and directly linked his removal not just to Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s murder but to what Trump perceives as treating him “unfairly,” First Amendment considerations be damned.
To the extent there’s a ray of light for Disney, conservative voices from podcast hosts like Ben Shapiro to Sen. Ted Cruz to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page see the optics of government intrusion in free speech as a bridge too far. Without defending Kimmel, they have decried Carr’s mob-like tactics, which could provide the studio some cover for a diplomatic resolution.
New Street Research policy analyst Blair Levin, a former FCC chief of staff, noted that while the FCC’s jawboning lacks genuine legal teeth, Carr could be playing a somewhat more subtle game, using the prospect of deregulating station ownership as a means of bending the parties toward Trump’s will.
“Carr is about to oversee an historic level of broadcast consolidation,” Levin wrote. “As we saw with his review of the Skydance/Paramount deal, these transactions provide Carr the leverage to obtain commitments to eliminate programming the President does not approve of and/or cause the hiring of Trump friendly persons to run news and other programming that touches on political issues.”
Given all of that, what can Disney do? Here are a few of the options, and the tradeoffs involved:
Kimmel clarifies his remarks, doesn’t apologize
Such a move might not satisfy the affiliate groups – certainly Sinclair, which is already well known for forcing conservative views on its stations – but it would defuse the situation to a degree, and restore the studio’s frayed bonds with Hollywood, which only seem to increase day by day with calls from creatives to boycott.
The question is how serious a financial hit ABC and “Kimmel Live!” would endure should Sinclair and Nexstar continue to balk at running the show without the apology that many on the right are demanding.
Try to compensate (that is, pay off) the affiliates in some other manner
ABC does have certain leverage in negotiating its affiliation agreements, and perhaps reducing or adjusting deals could be a sweetener to affiliates. But how much would the network have to give up in order to secure their allegiance going forward?
Move Kimmel to streaming
Moving Kimmel’s show to Disney+/Hulu would take the FCC out of the equation. As Levin noted, its jurisdiction doesn’t extend to that space. But it would also hasten the seemingly inevitable demise of linear television.
It’s also unclear if Kimmel would even want to continue the show on that platform, which is less accessible than broadcast TV.
Pull the plug
Contrary to Trump’s assertion, Kimmel is not cancelled. Disney insiders keep telling TheWrap they are working hard to get the show back on the air.
But the economics of late-night television have become less hospitable, which CBS used as its rationale for dropping “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” as parent Paramount sought approval of its Skydance merger.
The problem for ABC is that any attempt to hide behind that explanation has been blown up by the way the Kimmel situation has exploded into a national referendum on the First Amendment.
Furthermore, Trump has done little to hide his glee over the prospect of eradicating sources of news and entertainment he doesn’t like.
Stand up and tell Trump and Carr to pound sand
In other words, call their bluff. As The Bulwark’s Tim Miller observed on MSNBC Friday, “Too many people are folding to the fear.” Instead, Miller said, “The right posture toward this administration’s aspiring authoritarianism is to stand up and say, ‘No. Do it. Try me.’”
That obviously comes with the risk that Trump will seek to respond in a punitive fashion. The president could torpedo Disney’s deal to trade 10% of ESPN to the NFL in exchange for its digital properties and access to more games, which requires federal approval, as well put roadblocks up for another pending agreement to merge Hulu + Live TV with Fubo.
But that’s why Disney employs all those lawyers, and Trump has already suffered plenty of setbacks in the courts – the latest being the dismissal of his risible $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times.
The tide turns?
There have been cracks in the MAGA response to Kimmel, with some conservative voices warning about the long term consequences of the government silencing a late-night host. Cruz, for example, suggested that such policies could boomerang back and “end up bad for conservatives.” The Texas Republican also called Carr’s actions “dangerous” and “right out of ‘Goodfellas.’”
Other GOP senators, however, insisted the decision was Disney’s, downplaying Carr’s role in making it happen, despite evidence to the contrary, including Trump’s statements.
“Anyone blaming (or crediting) @BrendanCarrFCC for ABC’s business decision to suspend a dishonest, low-rated hack is wrong on the facts,” tweeted Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who went on to mischaracterize Kimmel’s monologue by adding, “The network made the common-sense BUSINESS DECISION that lying while mocking a horrific murder is bad for ratings.”
The weekend yielded further evidence that the administration has been put on its back foot by the reaction, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling Fox News that the Kimmel decision “came from executives at ABC,” denying evidence of Carr’s involvement in the chain of events. (She also incorrectly said Kimmel was “fired.”)
Disney’s fundamental miscalculation, with the benefit of hindsight, was that it would somehow buy time by taking Kimmel off the air.
It’s too late to turn back the clock on that decision, and it’s possible the damage can’t be undone. Finding a way to close the book on Disney’s latest chapter likely won’t be the end of this story.