At least one self-described “ex-CEO” of the Walt Disney Company is extremely disappointed in the current brass’ decision to bench Jimmy Kimmel over the late-night host’s remarks about the reaction to Charlie Kirk‘s fatal shooting and strong-arming from the Trump administration.
Declaring that he “finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny,” Bob Iger‘s first predecessor bluntly asked today: “Where has all the leadership gone?”
“The ‘suspending indefinitely’ of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC’s aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation,”” the 1984-2005 Disney boss wrote Friday in a rare X post. “Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest,’” Eisner added.
Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment? The “suspending indefinitely” of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the…
— Michael Eisner (@Michael_Eisner) September 19, 2025
While never naming Iger or Disney Entertainment chief Dana Walden, who supposedly made the call together on September 17 to shutter Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the face of FCC threats and an affiliate owner revolt, by name, the acerbic Eisner leaves little doubt in his post who he is talking about.
Having secured $15 million from Disney late last year to end a widely considered weak lawsuit over ill-considered comments by George Stephanopoulos in the first of many big media retreats and payoffs so far in his second term, Trump has rejoiced in harsh critic Kimmel being taken off ABC’s air — though the former Apprentice host insists (wrongly) it was because of Kimmel’s ratings. To that, Trump has further encouraged “tough guy” FCC chair Brendon Carr to go after ABC’s The View and others who cross him.
In the fallout from Kimmel’s show being “preempted indefinitely” unease and “disappointment” with Iger and Walden’s decision has emerged in the upper echelon of Disney management, as Deadline reported on September 18. At the same time, Walden is leading a BTS effort to create a pathway to get Kimmel back on the air as protestors take to the streets and the suspension is widely derided as an attack on the First Amendment and free speech. The two sides are still far apart on what that return would look and sound like and what the late-night host, whose contract is up in a few months anyway, could and could not say.
On another timeline, today’s comments by Eisner are a long way from just a year ago when the ex-exec publicly backed Iger and Disney leaders in their proxy war with activist investors. Put up to no small degree by former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, Nelson Peltz and his Trian Fund Management in April 2024 were unsuccessful attempting another bid to win seats on Disney’s board. With help from Eisner, the board and more, Iger vanquished another foe – as he had a number of times over the decades.
While Eisner’s exit from Disney 20 years ago and Iger taking over was a corporately bloody affair, the longtime colleagues have had a good personal relationship for a while, it is well known. That relationship, like Iger’s legacy, may be feeling so strain now.
Disney reps did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on Eisner’s critique of the Kimmel situation.
The post Michael Eisner Rips Disney Brass For Jimmy Kimmel Suspension & Bending The Knee To MAGA: “Where Has All The Leadership Gone?” appeared first on Deadline.
