Hundreds of union actors and writers marched on the Walt Disney Company’s Burbank headquarters Thursday in protest of ABC pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “indefinitely” over comments the host made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin.
The protest, organized hastily by the WGA and the Mutual Aid Network and supported by the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, swelled outside the main gates of the studio’s HQ.
Demonstrators held up signs decrying the company for their decision to remove Kimmel from the air. Some poked fun at the company’s famous IP. One sign read: “Who knew Mickey was MAGA?” It was accompanied with a drawing of the famous mouse.
Synchronized chants rang out: “Kimmel stays, Trump must go!”
Chantelle Piper, an organizer with the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity in Los Angeles, said the group was joining the WGA “for this important emergency protest to support Kimmel and call out how the First Amendment is under attack right now. Not just under attack – it’s being slaughtered. It’s important that people came out today.”
While there were a few dozen folks outside the gates of the Disney Company’s corporate headquarters, just outside the Team Disney Burbank building, with its famous columns of Seven Dwarfs, Piper said that, at the protest’s peak, there were around 300 people there. As we spoke, dozens of cars drove by honking their signal of support.
“There’s been a lot of support, a lot of fire, more so than I’ve seen recently. Because this is a whole new reality we’re in now,” said Piper.
And this was just the beginning – Piper said that there was a protest planned with the same groups later today, this time outside the El Capitan theater, which is owned by Disney and is next door to where Kimmel tapes his nightly show. One of the leaders of the protest, over a megaphone, said later, “This is not a one-day thing.” Pipder said there are larger anti-Trump protests being planned across the country, for Nov. 5.
Later Thursday, WGA East announced a Friday rally in New York City outside ABC’s Hudson Street offices “to demand ABC bring back ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ and to fight to protect free speech.”
“People cannot collaborate with fascism, and that’s exactly what ABC and Disney was doing. They’re collaborating with fascism and they’re bending the knee and that cannot be allowed,” Piper said. “It’s important that the industry came out and said, ‘We do not agree with this, we do not support this and we condemn that Kimmel was taken off the air.’”
One screenwriter from Los Angeles bemoaned the entire situation. “It really does feel like we’ve crossed a Rubicon,” he said. “And it’s because of the host of ‘The Man Show.’”
ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension on Wednesday after its partner, Nexstar, stated that Kimmel would be indefinitely preempted on its hundreds of stations across the U.S. Nexstar was the first to announce it would pull the show, hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened Disney and ABC to get involved lest the government intervene.
Nexstar will require the FCC’s approval on a potential merger with competitor station group Tegna. Both Carr and President Donald Trump quickly celebrated Kimmel’s removal, with Trump implying that Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers should be next.
Sinclair — another station partner — said they would not return Kimmel to air, even if ABC does, until he makes a meaningful apology to Kirk’s family and a personal donation to the family and Turning Point USA.
On the Monday broadcast, Kimmel spoke about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, as well as accused shooter Tyler Robinson. Kimmel’s comments were seen as implying that Robinson is a member of the MAGA movement, though they can likewise be interpreted as the late night host commenting on the conservative movement’s attempt to blame their political opponents on the murder.
“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,” Kimmel said.
