Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension appears to have been costly for Disney, the parent company of ABC.
Marisa Kabas of “The Handbasket” said a Disney source told her the company saw more than 1.7 million total paid streaming cancellations between Sept. 17 and Sept. 23. “The total includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN,” she wrote on Bluesky.
The company reported 207.4 million subscribers across all three streamers during its third quarter.
ABC suspended Kimmel’s late-night show on Sept. 17, following threats of potential repercussions from the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.
That Monday, Kimmel had taken aim at the president and his “MAGA gang” of supporters for their response to Charlie Kirk’s killing, which Kimmel said included “finger-pointing” and attempts to characterize the alleged shooter as “anything other than one of them.”
These remarks angered many supporters of Kirk—as well as Carr, who accused Kimmel of appearing to “directly mislead the American public” with his remarks about the man accused of the killing.
The Sinclair Broadcasting and Nexstar Media, parent company of KTLA, preempted Kimmel’s program on their ABC-affiliated stations.
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said at the time.
Kimmel returned to the airwaves on Sept. 23 when ABC ended its suspension. Nexstar and Sinclair ended their boycott on Sept. 26.
This past August, Nexstar announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire rival broadcast company Tegna for $6.2 billion. This merger would require FCC approval.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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