Actors are joining in on social media calling for a boycott of Disney’s streaming services in response to ABC’s decision to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made about the suspected killer of Charlie Kirk.
That wave has even included actors who have recently worked with Disney such as Tatiana Maslany, who starred in Marvel’s Disney+ series “She-Hulk” in 2022. On Instagram, she put up a post calling for people to shut down their subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN, the latter of which was recently relaunched to include all of the sports network’s programming.
“Please cancel your @DisneyPlus subscription. I did. Let’s show the Mouse that their customers are more formidable than Trump,” added “Supernatural” star Misha Collins in his own tweet. Rosie O’Donnell and “Star Trek” alum Wil Wheaton are also among those calling for boycotts.
Beyond Hollywood, former Republican Congressman and CNN contributor Adam Kizinger joined in on the boycott calls.
This past Wednesday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC and Disney during a podcast appearance, demanding that Kimmel be suspended over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killer. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said, suggesting that the government had “rememdies” if the network did not act.
This was in response to a comment Kimmel gave on his show regarding the arrest of Tyler Robinson in connection to the killing of Charlie Kirk at a speaking event in Utah: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Hours after Carr’s podcast appearance, Nexstar said it would preempt the broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely on its ABC affiliate networks, calling Kimmel’s remarks “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.” Sinclair made a similar announcement soon after with ABC also announcing that all production of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would be suspended.
Since the suspension, protesters have gathered outside of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” set at the Masonic Temple on Hollywood Blvd., with another protest staged on Thursday at Disney’s Burbank lot by members of the Writers Guild of America and other guilds.
Whether the outrage over Kimmel’s suspension leads to substantial loss in streaming revenue for Disney remains to be seen, and it likely won’t come in a straightforward way from the company. Prior to Kirk’s shooting, Disney announced in its latest earnings report in August that it would no longer report subscriber numbers or average revenue per unit for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN.
“We are focused on managing our businesses to deliver growth in a sustained way, and to align our financial reporting with how we operate,” Disney CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston wrote in the report. “Since we began reporting the number of paid subscribers and ARPU, our DTC strategy and the operating environment have evolved. Given this evolution, we plan to implement changes to our Entertainment and Sports financial disclosures.”
However, the company will continue to report profitability numbers for its direct-to-consumer sector, which includes the streaming services. TheWrap has reached out to Disney for comment.
