Calls to boycott Disney over Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

Damon Lindelof, creator of the past ABC hit series Lost, shared that he plans to boycott the network and its parent company until the decision to axe Kimmel is reversed.

“I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon. If it isn’t, I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it. If you’re about to fire up in my comments, just ask yourself if you know the difference between hate speech and a joke. I think you still do. And Jimmy? You’ve ALWAYS known what you were doing. Love you and support you,” he wrote.

Lindelof is also the creator of popular series The Leftovers, Watchmen and the upcoming DC Comics show Lanterns. 

Calls for a boycott have also swept social media, where people are sharing proof that they’ve cancelled their subscriptions to Disney’s streaming service, Disney+ – and, prompted to explain their decision to cancel, have explained that it’s because of Kimmel’s suspension.

Amid the calls for a boycott, protesters have swarmed Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, holding signs demanding “FREE SPEECH” and dubbing Disney “COWARDS.”

Kimmel’s late-night talk show was pulled from the air “indefinitely” this week following comments he made about slain right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk and US President Donald Trump during his opening monologue in Monday’s episode.

Kimmel claimed that Kirk’s alleged killer was “MAGA” and also poked fun at Trump’s response to the death of his high-profile supporter. 

Yesterday, Nexstar Media Group, which has more than 200 partner stations across the US, announced that it would pull Kimmel’s show indefinitely in light of the remarks.

In doing so, the President of Nexstar labelled Kimmel’s jokes “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse.”

Overnight, the head of another affiliate network behind the suspension went a step further, issuing a list of demands that Kimmel must meet if he wants to keep his job.

They include having the talk show host make a “direct apology” to Charlie Kirk’s family, and for him to make a “meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family” and to the conservative organisation he co-founded, Turning Point USA.

But Kimmel’s suspension has sent shockwaves across Hollywood, with talk show legend David Letterman the latest celeb to speak out: 

“This is misery,” he said at The Atlantic Festival 2025 today, as per Variety.

“We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is continuing to push for more talk show hosts and even TV networks that criticise him to be taken off-air.

Trump yesterday celebrated the news that Kimmel had been suspended, publicly calling for other major US late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to also have their shows axed: “Do it NBC!!!” he posted.

Today he went a step further, arguing that TV networks he deems unsupportive of his administration should have their licenses revoked. He said this decision would be up to the Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.