Bob Iger’s legacy seems more important than politics.
Some ABC insiders believe Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension has something to do with Iger, “trying to stabilize the ship,” and further cements a Walt Disney-like legacy before eventually resigning as CEO of the Mickey Mouse Company.
“(Igar) you might come across as this smooth Hollywood nice guy, but he’s not the Bulls. He’s all about business,” one insider told Page 6.
Sources of Iger and Kimmel pulled him out of the air, saying, “He was a personal friend of Jimmy and complicating the matter.”
Kimmel was yanked off-air last week after Maga supporters and politicians suggested they were using Charlie Kirk’s assassination for political gain.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the Magga gang trying to characterise this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them,” Kimmel told the show last week, referring to Tyler Robinson.
The comment sparked outrage from one of the Nexstar media at Conglomers, the biggest television station that threatened to pull Kimmel from the market affiliated with ABC. FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr thanked Nextar for “doing the right thing,” threatening to take action against ABC, saying “local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the interests of the people.”
He said, “This may be an unprecedented decision, but it’s important for broadcasters to decide that pushing back Disney programming is not close to the community.” (Nexstar is buying Telstar, the owner of another television station, to buy it for $6.2 billion.
“There’s no risk that (Iger) isn’t rich, but if he loses the FCC and the ABC is struggling financially, he’s suffering,” another source speculated. “He wants to be a visionary guy like Walt Disney,” they added, suggesting that the fallout with the FCC would be a fatal blow to his Disney legacy.
Another insider said Iger’s decision was “guided by principles and a desire to do the right thing for the company.”
Meanwhile, our first source said it’s not uncommon for ABC to broadcast people, pointing out Bill Mahle, who had the “political wrong” show in 2002, and correspondent Brian Ross, who was booted in 2018.
But in Kimmel’s case, ABC is retrieving him. This is something we agree (with the network) and is a “complete compromise.”
Kimmel returns to his show Tuesday night. He then returned to social media for the first time since the big failure earlier that day. He shared the photo with Norman Leah, writing, “I miss this guy today.”
Kimmel and Iger’s rep were not back to us.
