ReportWire

Tag: Disney

  • Disney reportedly lost 1.7 million paid subscribers in the week after suspending Kimmel

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    Reporter Marisa Kabas, founder of The Handbasket, posted on Bluesky today that more than 1.7 million subscribers canceled their paid Disney streaming plans between September 17 and September 23. The total allegedly includes subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN. That falloff reportedly marked a 436 percent increase over the usual churn rate for the service. We’ve reached out to Disney+ for comment on this claim.

    Disney also chose to increase subscription prices last week, which could prolong the wave of cancellations. Kabas’ source also claimed that Disney sped the return of the late night show because it had planned to announce the price hike last Tuesday.

    In case you need a reminder of the entertainment news that dominated headlines for the past two weeks, Disney-owned ABC suspended the late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live on September 17 after President Donald Trump and members of his administration accused the host of making inappropriate comments regarding the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. Although Disney then announced on September 22 that the program would be reinstated the following night, it seems a lot of viewers were not impressed with the company’s actions. 

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  • Nexstar and Sinclair are bringing back Kimmel, but many viewers may have found alternatives while he was blacked out | Fortune

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    Nexstar joined Sinclair on Friday in calling off its Jimmy Kimmel boycott just days after ABC returned the comedian to late-night television. 

    Beginning Friday night, Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to air on the ABC affiliates, which had preempted the show last week over remarks he made about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. 

    “As a local broadcaster, Nexstar remains committed to protecting the First Amendment while producing and airing local and national news that is fact-based and unbiased and, above all, broadcasting content that is in the best interest of the communities we serve,” a Nexstar statement said.  “We stand apart from cable television, monolithic streaming services, and national networks in our commitment–and obligation–to be stewards of the public airwaves.”

    Similarly, Sinclair issued a statement earlier on Friday reversing its decision to keep the comedian off its airwaves.

    It cited “feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives.”

    Sinclair had previously vowed not to put Kimmel back on air unless meetings were held with ABC to discuss the network’s “commitmentment to professionalism and accountability.”

    Those discussions are still ongoing, though ABC and Disney have not yet accepted any measures proposed by Sinclair, which included a network-wide independent ombudsman, per the company’s Friday release.

    The stand-down comes days after Kimmel’s first episode back on air had the highest ratings for a regularly scheduled episode in over a decade. His monologue at the top of the show ranged from the First Amendment and the Trump administration to Erica Kirk’s speech at her late husband’s memorial, garnering over 21 million views on YouTube in just a couple days—the most for a monologue in his show’s history.

    Kimmel’s comeback on Tuesday drew 6.3 million TV viewers, about four times the show’s average, despite nearly a quarter of ABC’s national reach blacking out his return episode. Sixty-six local stations owned by the ABC affiliates did not broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but this cost them a natural influx of viewership, and possibly some of their market, according to media experts.

    “Blackouts like this often highlight the strength of digital platforms,” Natalie Andreas, a communications professor at the University of Texas, told Fortune. 

    Instead of limiting reach, blackouts push viewers toward spaces like YouTube where content spreads faster, lingers longer, and attracts new audiences who may not have tuned in live, she said.

    Susan Keith, a professor in the Rutgers School of Communication and Information, told Fortune the blackouts can push viewers to seek—and easily find—Kimmel on their digital cable packages or YouTube if local stations didn’t air the show.

    “There’s this idea of public interest, necessity and convenience that over-the-air broadcast media were supposed to fulfill,” she said. “So if we all move to streaming services for content because (of) incidents like this one,” it trains viewers to seek media this way.

    Earlier this year, streaming overtook cable and broadcast as America’s most-watched form of TV, according to Nielsen data. 

    The FCC does not license TV or radio networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox, but rather individual stations that may air programming from these networks. But the shift to streaming has raised questions about what its continued role might be as viewers lean away from individual broadcast stations. 

    “I think this is an open question,” Keith said. “I think we don’t really know what to think about the ultimate usefulness of the FCC.”

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    Nino Paoli

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  • Broadcast TV Is a ‘Melting Ice Cube.’ Kimmel Just Turned Up the Heat

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    Jimmy Kimmel returned to ABC this week. Sort of. About a quarter of ABC’s usual audience couldn’t see the talk show host this week after two major owners of ABC affiliates, Sinclair and Nexstar, refused to carry the show. Those right-leaning companies apparently felt that Kimmel’s joke—which included some disputed facts—was so unpardonable that they couldn’t expose their viewers to the comedian. They were also the first organizations to pull the plug on Kimmel, after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr seemed to threaten action. That means that even the stations that did carry the show—as well as Disney, which owns ABC—might be courting the ire of a government official who seems eager to use his powers to silence critics.

    Carr does have power. The FCC can grant and revoke broadcast licenses if stations don’t serve the public interest. It’s an artifact of a time when virtually 100 percent of viewers got their shows over the air, via television antennas. Local TV stations were granted slices of the very limited broadcast spectrum to beam their programs and had to meet certain standards to keep that privilege. But that era has passed. Local television stations now reach their audience via cable or internet bundles. Also, networks increasingly stream their programming through apps. Yet Carr still has the ability to bully networks and affiliates by threatening to take their licenses.

    This raises a question: What’s the point of maintaining the current system? It’s certainly a mess for Disney and its fellow network owners like Comcast, which owns NBC, and Paramount, which owns CBS. Instead of kowtowing to free-speech-hating regulators, and toadying affiliates who are fine with censoring ABC programming, maybe Disney should bid farewell to stations that decline to run its programming. Disney already streams shows on Hulu (which it controls) and on its own app. There have long been examples of local stations owned and operated by networks. What if Disney or Comcast let contracts with troublesome affiliates lapse and then started their own local stations without using spectrum—both as apps and cable channels? Let Nexstar and Sinclair find their own programming, where they can tailor content to any standard they want. Disney can happily bypass the airwaves without worrying about FCC threats. They can even say those seven dirty words!

    I ran this idea past a former FCC commissioner, who pointed out some potential problems involving existing contracts and such. But generally, he agreed that the idea not only made sense but was already in motion, on the largest scale. “It’s what Disney is doing by streaming ESPN and everything else. It is something that has to be coming,” he tells me, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Blair Levin, the former chief of staff to an FCC chairman, was even more sympathetic to my idea. “Broadcast is a melting ice cube,” he says. It’s only a question of how long it will take to thaw. Five years? Ten?

    So my idea is less novel than I thought. The Kimmel conundrum has only turned up the heat on a doomed chunk of frozen water. Even as I chatted with former FCC officials, Needham, an investment bank that tracks media, put out a note that suggested even more drastic action is warranted. Disney, it said, should immediately begin streaming its entire schedule! The money it would reap from ads or subscriptions would more than make up for any losses, and Disney’s market cap would rise.

    I don’t expect that to happen right away. The multiyear contracts and ongoing relationships between affiliates and networks lock in the current situation for a while. But when I asked an executive from a company that owns TV stations whether the current arrangement was sustainable, I didn’t get the pushback I expected. “It’s a real question,” he tells me, admitting the relationship of late has become more fraught.

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    Steven Levy

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  • Disney Is Getting Sued Over Just How Much Mickey Mouse Counts as Public Domain

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    Last year, Mickey Mouse’s appearance in Steamboat Willie became public domain, ushering in tons of horror parodies of Disney’s iconic mascot. The Walt Disney Company gave films such as the David Howard Thornton-starring Screamboat a pass, but apparently, it thinks there’s a limit on just how much other companies can get away with using Mickey’s iconic nautical depiction.

    Disney has found itself in lawsuits after enforcing its intellectual property rights to its characters in Steamboat Willie against two companies seeking to utilize Mickey for marketing and retail purposes. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Morgan & Morgan, a U.S.-based personal injury law firm, attempted to use Steamboat Willie in a commercial, which Disney met with resistance. THR further reports that a jewelry company, Satéur, attempted to pass off merch with Steamboat Willie as official—which is where the legality gets all murky in Disney’s eyes.

    Disney stands firm that despite the short being public domain, that doesn’t mean competitors can infringe on trademarks that protect its brands, which it maintains include various representations of Mickey Mouse, as the character has been iterated on for almost a century since Steamboat Willie‘s release. The lawsuit states that Disney has a history of “aggressive enforcement of intellectual property rights,” exemplified in the company’s “refusal to disclaim an intent to engage in enforcement against” Morgan & Morgan and Satéur.

    Kelly Klaus, a lawyer for the complaint, was quoted in the complaint as clarifying that these companies, Satéur in particular, “infringe Disney’s continuing rights over its trademarks that identify Disney as the source of goods and services and to profit off the goodwill that Disney has built with the public over decades,” and “As Disney has stated publicly, while copyright expired on the Steamboat Willie motion picture, Mickey Mouse will continue to play a leading role as a global ambassador for Disney.”

    Morgan & Morgan used the Steamboat versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in an advert that sees Mickey crash a steamboat into Minnie’s car, prompting her to call the injury firm, and at the very least discloses that the video is not associated or endorsed by Disney. Its use along with horror movies using the character in parody is one thing, but it’s another when companies attempt to pass off the character as endorsing their goods and services. Satéur, on the other hand, seems to fall into the latter category, as the THR story reports that multiple complaints by consumers have been filed to the Better Business Bureau for the shoddy accessories they were misled into buying, thinking they were official Disney products.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Sabina Graves

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  • Jimmy Kimmel Shatters His Late-Night Ratings Record in Fi…

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    Millions of viewers tuned in Tuesday night to watch Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late-night television after a week-long suspension, propelling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to its highest ratings in a decade. ABC said 6.26 million people watched as the comedian mixed sincerity and humor while addressing the controversy that sidelined him and thanking fans for their support.

    It was the most-watched regularly scheduled episode in the show’s history, far outpacing its typical nightly average of 1.42 million viewers. Kimmel’s monologue, in which he pushed back against critics and defended political satire, also racked up nearly 26 million views across YouTube and Instagram by Wednesday afternoon.

    Why It Matters

    Kimmel’s suspension and swift reinstatement put him at the center of a political storm over free expression, media independence and pressure from the Trump administration. His return quickly became a flashpoint for the broader debate about satire in American politics, with critics accusing the comedian of insensitivity and supporters saying he was unfairly targeted.

    The ratings surge underscores both the public appetite for late-night television when it intersects with politics and the fragility of the format in an era of cord-cutting and streaming. While traditional late-night shows have seen their audiences shrink in recent years, Kimmel’s return demonstrated that a high-profile controversy can still galvanize millions to tune in. The episode also highlighted tensions between broadcasters, regulators and politicians after federal officials hinted at possible fines for stations airing his program.

    What to Know

    Kimmel was suspended after remarks he made on Sept. 15 about the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk drew sharp criticism and political backlash. ABC parent company Disney reversed course six days later, bringing him back on air in what was widely viewed as an act of defiance against pressure from the Trump administration. The move also came amid a wave of subscription cancellations to Disney+ and Hulu by fans demanding his reinstatement.

    In his monologue, Kimmel addressed the controversy directly, telling viewers it was never his intent to make light of a young man’s murder. His voice broke as he defended satire against what he called “bullying” from the administration. He also poked fun at Disney’s business interests, jokingly reading scripted lines on how to reactivate Disney+ and Hulu accounts.

    Jimmy Kimmel’s 6.26 million viewers Tuesday night far exceeded the typical audience for any late-night show. In the second quarter of 2025, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert led the field with an average of about 2.42 million viewers, followed by Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 1.77 million and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 1.19 million. On cable, Fox News’ Gutfeld! — which has outpaced the broadcast shows in total viewership — draws roughly 2.2 million nightly viewers.

    Still, Kimmel’s return did not reach all audiences. Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, which together own or operate 70 ABC stations covering nearly a quarter of U.S. households, refused to air the program. That left gaps in major markets including Seattle, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. Both companies said they are evaluating the future of carrying the show, while noting that episodes remain widely available through streaming.

    The political fallout extended to Washington. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened investigations and possible license revocations for affiliates that aired the program, remarks that drew calls for his resignation from Democrats and skepticism from some Republicans. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, while not directly criticizing Carr or Trump, said government regulators should not pressure broadcasters, leaving programming decisions to networks and audiences.

    What People Are Saying

    Nexstar said Wednesday that it is evaluating the status of the show, which it will continue to pre-empt on its ABC-affiliated local television stations: “We are engaged in productive discussions with executives at The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.”

    Speaking directly about Erika Kirk, Kimmel said during Tuesday’s monologue that her ability to forgive the attacker is “an example we should follow.”: “If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was. That’s it, a selfless act of grace, forgiveness from a grieving widow, that touched me deeply. And I hope it touches many and if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that and not this.”

    What Happens Next

    Kimmel’s future at ABC now depends as much on politics as on ratings. Disney executives are in discussions with station groups over the show’s distribution, while weighing how to balance creative independence with political and regulatory risks. For now, the network is standing by its star, pointing to the strong ratings and massive online engagement as evidence of his value to the brand.

    Meanwhile, Trump has continued to attack Kimmel on his Truth Social platform, calling him a partisan tool of Democrats and hinting at further action against ABC.

    Updates: 9/24/25, 7:29 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.

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  • What Jimmy Kimmel Said in His First Monologue Back on ABC

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    Photo: Randy Holmes/Disney/Getty Images

    Nearly a week after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken off the air, its host opened on Tuesday night with a joke. The show began with a montage of news clips reminding the audience of Kimmel’s abrupt suspension from ABC following a comment after the death of Charlie Kirk, with several news hosts from other stations calling his comeback a “huge moment in American history” and “one of the most pivotal moments in broadcast history.” The camera then cut to Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez dressed in a monkey suit and a banana suit, respectively. “Maybe we should change,” the two said to each other before the opening credits rolled.

    Kimmel entered the stage in Hollywood to a standing ovation and minute-long applause for his monologue. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted,” Kimmel said to open the show. He then joked that his program was “preempting your regularly-scheduled encore episode of Celebrity Family Feud to bring you this special report — I am happy to be here tonight.”

    Kimmel had been off the air for nearly a week as his show was put in the center of a culture war maelstrom following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The matter began on September 15 when Kimmel said in his monologue that the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and trying to “score political points from it.” On September 17, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr said on a podcast that Kimmel should be off the air and that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Nexstar, a major owner of local network stations, then pulled Kimmel’s program from dozens of markets across the U.S. hours after Carr’s comment. Before the day ended, ABC announced they were suspending Kimmel “indefinitely.”

    Kimmel was emotional as he addressed the matter or Kirk’s death. “It was never my intention to make fun of a murder of a young man,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.” He said that his comments were received as “either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both. And for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset.” He then addressed the controversy over the Trump administration’s apparent effort to silence him. “This show is not important,” he said. “What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”

    From there, Kimmel got to the jokes. FCC commissioner Carr was the “most embarrassing car the Republicans have embraced since this one.” Producers then put up a picture of a cybertruck with gold “Trump” lettering. He said that Trump “might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this now.” Kimmel added that ABC-owner Disney asked him to read a statement after the company reinstated him under pressure. He pulled out a piece of paper and read to his audience how to reactivate their Disney and Hulu accounts.

    Kimmel addressed the president directly, saying that President Trump “made it very clear he wants to see me and the hundreds of people who work here fired from our jobs. Our leader celebrates Americans losing their livelihoods because he cannot take a joke.” Earlier in the night, it appeared that Trump proved his point. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the late-night host was “yet another arm of the DNC.” He then suggested he would sue ABC again, citing his defamation case which the network settled last December. “Let’s see how we do,” Trump wrote. “Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars.”

    Kimmel was obviously going to go hard against the Trump administration in his first show back — and even brought special guests to join him. He said he had Carr on the line, then the screen cut to noted Trump-hater Robert De Niro. The actor spoke briefly pretending to the be the FCC chair, then said he had to go because “a couple cases of Tylenol fell off a truck and now I got to figure out how to put autism in them,” referencing the administration’s unusual public health presser on Monday. Kimmel then highlighted some of the greatest hits from Trump’s anti-Tylenol screed:

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    Matt Stieb

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  • Former Jimmy Fallon writer on Kimmel’s return to late-night: “A different level to it”

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    “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Is officially back on the air Tuesday night. The show’s return to ABC comes less than a week after the network pulled it over comments Kimmel made about the death of Charlie Kirk. Wayne Federman, former head monologue writer of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” joins CBS News to discuss.

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  • Kimmel’s return to ABC will be dark on dozens of stations, with ‘tension’ between Hollywood and the heartland on display | Fortune

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    Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s decision highlights the influence and sometimes-tenuous relationship local TV station owners have with national broadcasters such as Disney-owned ABC.

    Kimmel was briefly suspended over comments he made in the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

    Here are key facts about the two companies, which collectively own about a quarter of ABC affiliates, including in some bigger cities like Washington, D.C.

    Nexstar Media Group

    Nexstar Media Group, based in Irving, Texas, operates 28 ABC affiliates. It said Tuesday that it stands by last week’s decision to preempt the show, “pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.”

    It added “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, and Nexstar’s stations will focus on “continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.”

    Nexstar owns ABC-affiliated stations in cities including Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; Salt Lake City and smaller markets including Evansville, Indiana; and Binghamton, N.Y., among others.

    In all, the company owns or partners with more than 200 stations in 116 U.S. markets, and owns broadcast networks the CW and NewsNation, as well as the political website The Hill and nearly a third of the Food Network.

    It hopes to get even bigger. Last month, it announced a $6.2 billion deal to buy TEGNA Inc., which owns 64 other TV stations.

    The deal would require the Federal Communications Commission to change rules limiting the number of stations a single company can own. The FCC’s chair, Brendan Carr, has expressed openness to changing the rule.

    Sinclair Broadcast Group

    Sinclair Broadcast Group, based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, operates 38 local ABC affiliates. The company, which has a reputation for a conservative viewpoint in its broadcasts, said in a post Tuesday on X that it will be preempting the show and replacing it with news programming.

    “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company said in the statement.

    Sinclair owns, operates or provides services to 178 TV stations in 81 markets affiliated with all major broadcast networks and owns the Tennis Channel. Its ABC affiliates include stations in Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., Chattanooga, Tennessee, and other cities.

    Affiliates and national broadcasters depend on each other

    While local TV affiliates broadcast their own programming, such as local news, they also contract with national broadcasters and pay them to air their national programming, splitting advertising revenue and fees from cable companies.

    For example, if there are 16 minutes of advertising during an hour of commercial time, typically about 12 minutes go to the national broadcaster and 4 minutes go to the local station owner, said Matthew Dolgin, a senior analyst at research firm Morningstar who covers the technology, media, and telecom sectors.

    While affiliates get 100% of ad revenue from local programming, national TV shows during prime time typically get much better ratings, thus higher advertising dollars.

    “The areas where these stations own ABC affiliates, they’re a smaller market. They probably don’t get really big Kimmel viewership,” he said. “So for them, they don’t lose maybe quite as much. … It’s easier for them to take a stand on Jimmy Kimmel than it would be for a lot of the other national programs I think they really rely on, including, for example, Monday Night Football,” Dolgin added.

    Controversies

    Sinclair made headlines in 2018 when a video that stitched together dozens of news anchors for Sinclair-owned local stations reading identical statements decrying “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing the country” went viral. Sinclair didn’t disclose that it ordered the anchors to read the statement.

    Nexstar operates similarly.

    Danilo Yanich, professor of public policy at the University of Delaware, said the company is the “biggest duplicator” of news content today His research showed Nexstar stations duplicated broadcasts more than other affiliate owners.

    Affiliate influence

    Lauren Herold, an editor of the forthcoming book “Local TV,” said the web of companies involved in getting Americans their television shows is “relatively unknown” to most viewers, though their influence has been made known for decades.

    Often, Herold said, that’s been when local affiliates have balked at airing something they viewed as controversial, such as the episode of the 1990s comedy “Ellen” in which Ellen DeGeneres’ character came out as gay.

    “It’s not a complete oddity,” Herold said. “I think what’s more alarming about this particular incident to me is the top-down nature of it.”

    Whereas past flare-ups between affiliates and their parent networks have often involved individual local TV executives, Herold pointed to the powerful voices at play in Kimmel’s suspension: Disney CEO Bob Iger, the FCC’s chair Carr, as well as Sinclair and Nexstar.

    “The FCC kind of pinpointing particular programs to cancel is concerning to people who advocate for television to be a forum for free discussion and debate,” Herold said.

    Jasmine Bloemhof, a media strategist who has worked with local stations, including ones owned by Sinclair and Nexstar, said consolidation has given such companies “enormous influence.” Controversies like the latest involving Kimmel, she said, “reveal the tension between Hollywood-driven programming and the values of everyday Americans.”

    “Networks may push one agenda, but affiliates owned by companies like Sinclair and Nexstar understand they serve conservative-leaning communities across the country,” Bloemhof said. “And that friction is bound to surface.”

    But Dolgin said he believes the balance of power might lie with ABC over the affiliates. While Disney does rely on local TV affiliate relationships to get viewership, ad revenue, and revenue from cable companies, the ABC broadcast network makes up a “very small percentage of (Disney’s) revenue,” Dolgin said.

    “And they’ve got alternative ways with their streaming services, with their cable networks to reach consumers otherwise,” he said. “So to me, that puts them a little bit in the driver’s seat in this relationship.”

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    Mae Anderson, Matt Sedensky, The Associated Press

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  • Disney raising streaming prices for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN

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    Disney is raising the prices of its streaming services, joining competitors such as Apple and Netflix in hiking subscription costs for their streaming platforms. 

    Beginning Oct.21, the cost of an adverstisement-support Disney+ plan will jump from from $9.99 a month to $11.99, while an ad-free plan will rise to $18.99 a month, up from $15.99, the entertainment giant announced Tuesday. 

    A bundled plan that includes Disney+ and Hulu with ads will cost an extra $2, rising to $12.99 a month, while the ad-free subscription will run $19.99. A subscription offering Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select with ads will rise from $16.99 per month to $19.99; without ads, that package will cost $29.99 a month, up from $26.99.

    In its August earnings statement, Disney said its flagship Disney+ platform added 1.8 million new subscribers in the third quarter and how has 128 million subscribers. 

    As of last month, 46% of Americans were watching TV and movies on streaming platforms, compared to roughly 23% on cable and 19% on legacy networks, according Nielsen.

    Streaming costs have also jumped of late, with Apple, Comcast-owned Peacock and Netflix all raising their subscription prices this year. Those services compete with Paramount+, a streaming platform owned by Paramount Skydance, which is the parent company of CBS.

    Megan Cerullo

    Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

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  • Disney Sure Seems to Want You to Keep Being Mad at It

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    Disney’s not exactly crushing it in the court of public opinion lately. ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! over the host’s comments about the Charlie Kirk assassination—and then reinstate it, starting tonight, after an outcry in Hollywood and among free-speech advocates everywhere—was already a big problem, leading to a viral push to dump Disney+ subscriptions. Perhaps hoping to win back some goodwill, the company then released a trailer for the next Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, an expansion of one of Disney+’s biggest hits.

    But the trailer’s arrival didn’t do much to quiet Disney’s critics; the fact that it hinted at a visually underwhelming movie that leans heavily into Star Wars Easter eggs and Baby Yoda doing cute things didn’t help. (Contrast that to the excitement over Star Wars: Starfighter‘s first glimpse of Ryan Gosling in character, which was released hours before the Kimmel suspension.)

    And now, Disney+ subscribers, there’s more bad news, as well as what seems to be an incredible stroke of bad timing. As Vulture reports, the streamer will soon be raising its prices; the new rates will go into effect in 30 days.

    Here’s what the new tiers will cost you each month:

    The Disney+ and Hulu Bundle with ads was $11; will increase to $13. (The “no ads” option will remain at $20.)

    Disney+ Premium with no ads was $16; will increase to $19. (Hulu Premium with no ads will stay at $19.)

    Disney+ with ads was $10; will increase to $12.

    Hulu + Live TV (with ads) was $83; will increase to $90. This plan bundles Disney+ and ESPN Select, both with ads.

    Of course, streaming price hikes are nothing new; Disney+ also raised its rates last year, and Apple TV+, to give one other example, recently announced its own price increase.

    But widespread boycotts against streaming services are far less common; you have to wonder if anyone who cancelled in protest over Jimmy Kimmel Live! being suspended will want to pay more to rejoin now that the show’s been reinstated.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Cheryl Eddy

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  • New docuseries on 2011 fatal stabbing of Ellen Greenberg to premiere Monday

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    A three-part docuseries recounting the story of Ellen Greenberg, the Philadelphia teacher who was found stabbed to death in her apartment in 2011, will be available Monday on Hulu and Disney+.

    “Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?” will feature over 20 new interviews with Greenberg’s family, friends and colleagues as well as glimpses into the case’s crime scene photos, autopsy analyses and surveillance footage, ABC News Studios said in a release. Former neighbors and staff members of Greenberg’s Manayunk apartment building were also interviewed for the series.

    MORE: ‘Task’ Episode 3 recap: Sparks fly and moles emerge in the Delco crime drama

    A trailer for the series was released Monday featuring audio of the 911 call made by Greenberg’s fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, on the night of her death. The clip also alludes to potential “errors” in the investigation on behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department, Medical Examiner’s Office and then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro in maintaining that her death was a suicide. 

    Greenberg, who worked as an elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, was 27 years old when she was found by Goldberg with 20 stab wounds, 11 bruises and a 10-inch knife in her chest. When police arrived on the scene, officers treated her death as a suicide based on information that they were told by Goldberg, including that the apartment was locked from the inside when he arrived. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled it a homicide before changing it back to a suicide, effectively stifling any criminal investigation. 

    Over the past 14 years, the case has garnered a meticulous following of true crime junkies and advocates who have pushed for experts to reinvestigate Greenberg’s cause of death.

    Earlier this year, the former medical examiner who conducted the autopsy signed a sworn statement saying he now believes the death should be “designated as something other than suicide.” Days later, a settlement on two civil lawsuits was reached between the city and Greenberg’s parents in which the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office agreed to conduct an “expeditious” review of the death. In a Sept. 3 hearing, a judge criticized the city for delaying the release of its findings. The next hearing will be Oct. 14, 6ABC said. 

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    Molly McVety

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  • Jimmy Kimmel Isn’t Coming Back for Everyone. How to See If You Can Watch Tonight

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    Millions of Americans are set to miss Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late-night TV on Tuesday, as two major owners of local ABC stations said that they still plan not to air the show.

    Nexstar announced today that it is joining Sinclair in continuing their previous plans to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely. Together, the two companies own more than 23 percent of local TV stations that are affiliated with ABC’s national programming. Viewers relying on those stations will instead have to settle for local news.

    Nexstar’s announcement comes a day after Disney, which owns ABC, said the late-night talk show would return on Tuesday. The show had been suspended last week following comments Kimmel made after the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Disney’s decision to temporarily pull the show, under pressure from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, set off a firestorm of its own and fueled a heated national debate over free speech.

    Politicians, free-speech advocates, and Hollywood stars came to Kimmel’s defense in the days that followed. And a call to boycott Disney, including canceling Disney+ subscriptions, also went viral online, hitting Disney stock, prompting the House of Mouse on Monday to announce the show’s return.

    However, that same day, Sinclair posted on X that it would be preempting the show while discussions with ABC continued.

    Nexstar, for its part, said in a press release on Tuesday that it stood by its decision to pull the show, citing Kimmel’s “ill-timed and insensitive” comments.

    Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo.

    How to know if your local ABC station will air Jimmy Kimmy Live!

    If your local ABC station is owned by Nexstar or Sinclair, you’ll miss out on Kimmel’s return.

    Sinclair operates 38 ABC stations, including those in Washington, D.C., Seattle, and St. Louis. You can see Wikipedia’s full list here.

    Nexstar runs 28 ABC stations, including in Salt Lake City and Nashville. The Wikipedia list of Nexstar stations is here.

    A timeline of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! controversy

    The controversy began after Kirk’s shooting on Wednesday, Sept. 10. In the days that followed, when little was known about the shooter, many conservative politicians and pundits suggested he was motivated by left-wing ideology.

    On the night of Monday, Sept. 15, Kimmel pushed back on those claims.

    “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.

    Two days later, on Sept. 17, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told conservative commentator Benny Johnson: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

    The FCC regulates broadcast television and has the power to suspend a station’s license.

    Hours after Carr’s remarks, Nexstar—which is in the process of trying to acquire TEGNA, another owner of TV stations—and Sinclair announced they would preempt the show. ABC soon afterward took action and announced it was suspending the program.

    At the time, Sinclair said the suspension was not enough and called for further action from both ABC and the FCC.

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    Bruce Gil

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  • Disney+ prices are increasing in October (yes, again)

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    Disney might be trying to put the Jimmy Kimmel Live fiasco to bed by bringing the show back on Tuesday night (good luck with that). But the company isn’t exactly putting itself back in customers’ good graces. Once again, it’s hiking the prices of Disney+ subscriptions in the US.

    Several standalone plans and bundles are getting price increases. The changes come into effect on October 21.

    After that date, subscribers will be paying $2 extra for the standard Disney+ plan (the one with ads) at $12 per month. The ad-free Disney+ Premium option will soon cost $19 per month, an increase of $3. For those playing along at home, that means the monthly ad-free Disney+ plan will have nearly tripled in price in the six years that the service has been around.

    Bundle price increases are as follows:

    • Disney+ and Hulu with ads: currently $11 per month, going up by $2 to $13

    • Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select with ads: currently $17 per month, going up by $3 to $20

    • Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select Premium (ad-free): currently $27 per month, going up by $3 to $30

    • Disney+ Premium (ad-free), Hulu and ESPN Select (both with ads): currently $22 per month, going up by $3 to $25 — note that this is a legacy plan for existing subscribers, and it’s not possible to switch to it

    • Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max Basic with ads: currently $17 per month, going up by $3 to $20

    • Disney+ Premium, Hulu Premium and HBO Max (No Ads): currently $30 per month, going up by $3 to $33

    Ad-free Hulu Premium ($19 per month) and the ad-free Disney+ and Hulu Premium bundle ($20 per month) are not changing in price for now. The Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Unlimited bundles are remaining the same too, at $36 with ads on all three services and $45 with ad-free Disney+ Premium and Hulu Premium. The company will combine Disney+ and Hulu into the same app next year, but there will still be standalone plans for each service.

    Disney is following Apple and Peacock in raising prices of their streaming services over the last couple of months. But the timing of the Disney+ increase is an especially ill-judged one.

    The announcement comes amid many subscribers canceling their plans in protest against Disney’s decision to temporarily remove Jimmy Kimmel from its airwaves. A price hike isn’t exactly likely to entice them to sign back up as Kimmel’s show returns to ABC.

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  • Jimmy Kimmel Back on ABC: When, Where and How to Watch

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    Jimmy Kimmel Live! was taken off air last week after the host’s comments about the Make America Great Again movement and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk sparked outrage.

    Disney has now announced that the late-night show is returning to air on Tuesday, ending a suspension that had ignited national debates over free speech and political pressure on the media.

    What Did Jimmy Kimmel Say About Charlie Kirk? 

    In his September 15 monologue, Jimmy Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was trying to score political points from Kirk’s death and were “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

    He also mocked President Donald Trump’s response to a question about how he was doing in the wake of Kirk’s killing, in which the president responded by talking about construction happening at the White House.

    “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish,” Kimmel said. 

    Why Did ABC Reinstate Jimmy Kimmel? 

    On Monday, ABC’s parent company, Disney, said it had come to the decision to reinstate the show following “thoughtful conversations” with Kimmel.

    “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” Disney said in the statement. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.”

    “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.” 

    Who Owns Sinclair Broadcast Group? 

    Sinclair Broadcast Group, a publicly traded company controlled in part by the Smith family—with David D. Smith as executive chairman—has historically leaned conservative.

    While Disney has decided to put Kimmel back on air, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which controls many ABC affiliates, has said it will preempt the show, meaning it will block it and air its own programming instead.

    The company called on Kimmel to apologize and make a donation to Kirk’s conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA.

    What Time Is ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’? 

    Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC and returns on Tuesday.

    Where Can I Watch ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’? 

    The show is set to air on ABC stations nationwide. 

    However, Sinclair Broadcast Group has said it will preempt the program on its affiliates and instead air news programming in the slot.

    This means viewers in markets with Sinclair-owned ABC affiliates won’t be able to watch the show on their local channels.

    Nexstar, another major owner of ABC affiliates that previously objected to Kimmel’s comments about Kirk, has not confirmed whether it will air the returned show.

    Who Is Jimmy Kimmel‘s First Guest Back?

    It is not clear who Kimmel’s first guest back will be. 

    The show’s website, which ordinarily lists the upcoming interviewees and musical guests for the week, has not been updated since the news that the show was returning.

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  • Sinclair says it will preempt Jimmy Kimmel after Disney announces his return

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    Hours after Disney announced the return of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, Sinclair Broadcasting Group said it would preempt the program while discussions with ABC play out. Steve Battaglio, media reporter for the Los Angeles Times, joins CBS News to discuss.

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  • Jimmy Kimmel’s show set to return on Tuesday

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    (CNN) — “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to air on ABC on Tuesday night, the network announced in a statement.

    “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” a spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said in a statement to CNN. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

    “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was abruptly and indefinitely taken off the air last week after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr and networks of affiliate stations owned by Sinclair and Nexstar threatened ABC over comments Kimmel made in a monologue about the MAGA movement’s response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

    The move sparked a national debate about government interference and freedom speech between supporters of President Donald Trump’s administration and Kimmel, who have been vocally critically of each other over the years.

    Before news of his pending return on Monday, more than 400 artists, including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Aniston, signed an open letter, organized by the ACLU, in support of Kimmel.

    There were organized protests against Disney outside of the company’s offices in New York and Burbank, California over the past week, as well as outside the theater where Kimmel’s show is recorded in Hollywood.

    Media analysts have watched as Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden have navigated competing pressures. Disney needs government approval for pending deals like ESPN’s pact with the NFL, while many of its station partners are in the same boat. Additionally, Kimmel’s contract is expiring in May and late-night TV audiences and revenue have been on decline.

    Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet is keeping the pressure on station owners: “Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”

    Still, Kimmel’s sudden suspension sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, where the comedian and long-time host is well-regarded, both inside and outside ABC.

    His show employs between 200 and 250 people. During the WGA strike, which shut down Hollywood productions in 2023, Kimmel provided funds for his crew when production on his show was halted. When production was shut down again during wildfires in Los Angeles early this year, the show’s backlot was used as a donation center to collect and distribute resources to those impacted by the disaster.

    Kimmel has not yet publicly commented on the controversy, but presumably will on his show Tuesday night.

    CNN has reached out to representatives of the late-night host, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar for comment.

    Editor’s note: CNN’s David Goldman and Lisa Respers France contributed to this story.

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    Elizabeth Wagmeister, Brian Stelter and CNN

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  • Disney Returns Jimmy Kimmel to TV After Public Backlash

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    Midway through last week, Disney and ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the airwaves, announcing an indefinite suspension after comments its host made about the death of Charlie Kirk. The response from politicians, union leaders, free-speech advocates, and Kimmel’s Hollywood peers (including Andor Emmy winner Dan Gilroy, Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, and Marvel star Tatiana Maslany) was near-immediate, and a Disney boycott, including a call to cancel Disney+ subscriptions, went viral just as fast. And as many started to suspect late last week, it didn’t take long for Disney to stand down.

    As Variety reports, Kimmel’s show will be back on tomorrow. Disney’s statement, as printed by the trade, is as follows:

    “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

    The Hollywood Reporter included a caveat with that: “Despite Kimmel’s return, it is not immediately clear if he will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel’s show on its stations until the late-night host apologized for his comments, met with Sinclair representatives, and made a donation to Turning Point, the organization that Kirk founded.”

    This news just dropped, so you can expect Kimmel’s supporters and critics to be taking over social media soon with their responses. And even if your local station doesn’t choose to pick up the revived Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you can still watch it online after it airs live. No doubt there’ll be a rather huge audience curious to hear what he has to say during his first monologue back.

    Update, Sept. 22, 8:20 p.m.: Variety reports Sinclair affiliate stations will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! upon its return, substituting “news programming” instead. A spokesperson told the trade that “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Cheryl Eddy

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  • Why Won’t America’s Business Leaders Stand Up to Donald Trump?

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    If nothing else, the events of recent weeks have been clarifying. “Donald Trump is using the murder of Charlie Kirk, which was tragic, as a pretext for an authoritarian crackdown,” Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth political scientist who studies democratic erosion, said to me last week. The pressure that the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, put on ABC and its parent company, Disney, to suspend the late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel was the most visible manifestation of this Trumpian initiative, but Carr himself made clear that the blitz isn’t over. “We’re not done yet,” he told CNBC, alluding to further changes in the media ecosystem.

    There’s another clarifying takeaway: as long as Trump continues to abuse his executive power with the presumptive backing of the legislature and the Supreme Court, the titans of American capitalism can’t be relied on to push back against him. This was evident not only in Kimmel’s suspension but during the recent dinner at the White House attended by more than twenty tech moguls including Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, who took turns praising Trump and thanking him for his leadership.

    Given the President’s long-standing support for corporate tax cuts and deregulation of industry, this pusillanimity is perhaps not so surprising. Still, during Trump’s first term, business leaders did occasionally mount some opposition. In the summer of 2017, after Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides of a clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters at a rally in Charlottesville, many members of a White House business advisory council quit, and the body ended up collapsing. On January 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol insurrection, the Business Roundtable, a group that comprises C.E.O.s from major companies, issued a statement calling on the President to “put an end to the chaos and facilitate the peaceful transition of power.” But, these days, business leaders are largely staying silent as the second Trump Administration ramps up its attacks on the media and other targets.

    Of course, some prominent entrepreneurs who are, or at least were, aligned with Trump are themselves media owners or investors. In December of last year, Elon Musk, the owner of X and a self-professed champion of free speech, remarked on his platform, “Legacy media must die.” The following month, shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the President said he’d like to see Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, buy the American operations of TikTok, the Chinese social-media app. According to news reports, Ellison, who is one of the world’s richest men, is now part of a consortium looking to do just that. Meanwhile, Skydance Media, a company run by Ellison’s son, David, recently merged with Paramount, the conglomerate that owns CBS, and is said to be considering a takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. The elder Ellison helped finance the Paramount merger, and he certainly has the means to fund a run at Warner Bros. Discovery, too. “America could end up with two of its major social-media companies, plus CBS News and CNN, in the hands of Trump supporters,” Nyhan noted.

    This outcome would resemble what happened in Hungary after Viktor Orbán, another nationalist strongman, was elected as Prime Minister, in 2010. “Trump is really following Orbán on this one because Orbán pressured media company owners by threatening their other businesses and their bottom lines, harassed them with libel actions, and arranged to have his friends buy up troublesome media outlets that did not comply,” Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton who has taught at two universities in Budapest, wrote to me, in an e-mail. In a subsequent phone conversation, Scheppele pointed to Orbán’s effort to gut the state broadcaster and to place his allies on the national media board, which is meant to insure political neutrality in state-run outlets. Orbán also exerted control over the country’s newspaper industry, which had previously been a vibrant one, with at least nine print titles in Budapest alone. Scheppele recounted how the Hungarian leader exploited the fact that the newspapers were heavily dependent on government advertising. He cut this financial lifeline, and then his associates bought some of the papers and flipped their politics. “He left a few small liberal publications in Budapest so he could point to them and say, ‘Hey, I’m not a dictator,’ ” Scheppele said. “But, when you get outside the capital, the media is pro-Orbán all the way down.”

    Things haven’t gone that far in the U.S., but Scheppele noted that Trump, like Orbán, is weaponizing the central government’s financial and regulatory power, which, in the hands of a vengeful man, can be a fearsome prospect. “The universities are caving to him because they realize that the Administration has the ability to cripple them financially,” Scheppele commented. “Ditto the law firms. Ditto the media companies.”

    ABC’s decision to suspend a late-night comic over a few throwaway comments he made in the wake of Kirk’s murder follows a string of similarly submissive moves in the industry. This past December, ABC agreed to donate fifteen million dollars to Trump’s Presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit he brought against one of the network’s hosts, George Stephanopoulos, for on-air comments Stephanopoulos made regarding the E. Jean Carroll verdict. In July, Paramount reached a sixteen-million-dollar settlement in another Trump lawsuit, which involved the CBS News show “60 Minutes.” That same month, CBS announced its plans to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which frequently lampooned Trump. At the time, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, was looking to complete its merger with Skydance, which required approval from Trump’s F.C.C. Subsequently, the deal went through.

    After Kimmel’s statements on Kirk, Disney, which was already facing an F.C.C. investigation into its diversity practices, came under renewed pressure. Last Wednesday, on a conservative podcast, Carr, the F.C.C. chair, said Kimmel’s remarks were a “very, very serious issue for Disney,” and that it was time for the owners of local television stations that broadcast the comedian’s show to “step up.” Hours later, Nexstar Media Group, a company that owns more than twenty local television stations affiliated with the ABC network, announced that these stations would stop airing Kimmel’s show indefinitely—a step that upped the commercial threat to ABC and Disney’s C.E.O., Bob Iger. Nexstar had an urgent reason to curry favor with the F.C.C.: it’s looking to buy out one of its competitors, and that deal needs the agency’s approval.

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  • Disney’s ‘Lilith Fair’ Doc Premiere: Sarah McLachlan Says Musical Performances Canceled Amid Calls for Free Speech Following Jimmy Kimmel Suspension

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    The musical performances scheduled to take place at Sunday night’s premiere of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery have been canceled as Disney — parent company of the doc’s distributor, ABC News Studios — continues to deal with the fallout from last week’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.

    “While the previously scheduled musical performances will not take place, we invite you to stay for a reception following the screening to celebrate the documentary,” organizers said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

    At the premiere, Lilith Fair co-founder Sarah McLachlan, who also appears in the documentary, introduced the film ahead of the screening. She announced that the performances were canceled in a move of solidarity to support free speech.

    McLachlan began her remarks by noting that she struggled with what to say.

    “It’s a gift for all of us to see [this film], but also I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with, the stark contraction to the many advances we’ve made watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech,” McLachlan said. “I think we’re all fearful for what comes next, and none of us know, but what I do know is that I have to keep pushing forward as an artist, as a woman to find a way through, and though I don’t begin to know what the answer is, I believe we all need to work towards a softening to let in the possibility of a better way, because I see music as a bridge to our shared humanity, to finding common ground.”

    She continued: “If Lilith taught me anything, it taught me there is a great strength in coming together to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. So I really hope this documentary inspires everyone to continue to try and create positive change in your communities, to keep lifting each other up, keep championing the causes you believe in with kindness and empathy because ultimately we’re all in this together.”

    Toward the end of her remarks, she broke the news about the performances being canceled.

    “I know you’re expecting a performance tonight, and I’m so grateful to all of you for coming, and I apologize if this is disappointing, but we have collectively decided not to perform but instead to stand in solidarity in support of free speech,” McLachlan said, receiving loud applause in support. She added, “Thank you for your understanding.”

    While the invitation to the event did not specify who was planning to perform — it teased only that “special surprise performances” were scheduled — a source tells The Hollywood Reporter that McLachlan and Jewel were the artists set to take the stage, along with another surprise guest. THR has reached out to reps for the event for more information. Puck’s Matt Belloni reported that Olivia Rodrigo was the surprise guest set. Rodrigo appears in the final moments of the documentary in an interview segment during which she praised the Lilith Fair artists as her “North stars.”

    Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery retraces the iconic music festival that went on tour in the late 1990s and featured female solo acts and bands. A portion of the 1-hour, 39-minute documentary was dedicated to how the artists faced protests, backlash and even a free speech fight during stops of the tour. While in Houston, organizers had partnered with Planned Parenthood to set up a booth on the venue grounds with reps handing out condoms. Conservative pro-life groups criticized the move as did venue officials by attempting to ban the organization from participating. Joan Osborne explained that Planned Parenthood was eventually allowed in but artists were prohibited from discussing or promoting the organization during their sets. Osborne resisted, saying she didn’t enter into such an agreement, so she wore a Planned Parenthood T-shirt.

    Before Sunday’s screening, a slide noted that ABC News Studios and Hulu support the Downtown Women’s Center, which helps homeless women and gender diverse individuals; LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG; and the Geena Davis Institute, which works to improve representations of women and girls in media. QR codes for each organization were displayed for moviegoers to find out more.

    Also in the audience at the event, taking place at The Ford in Los Angeles, are singer Lisa Loeb, actor-comedian Mae Martin and actor Charlie Barnett. Meanwhile, the event hosted a red carpet ahead of the screening, but it did not include any members of the press.

    The news comes as Disney continues to deal with the fallout from the suspension of Kimmel following the ABC late-night host’s remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    After station owners Nexstar and Sinclair said they would not be airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of those comments, Disney made the decision to suspend Kimmel indefinitely. The company has faced backlash from Hollywood A-listers, current and veteran late-night hosts, politicians and the public for its decision, with many accusing Disney of bowing to pressure from the Trump administration.

    Ally Pankiw directed the doc. Dan Levy is a producer on the film, and Diane Sawyer is executive producer. All three, along with McLachlan, were on hand at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month for the film’s premiere.

    The documentary was released Sunday on Hulu and Disney+.

    Stacey Wilson Hunt contributed to this report.

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  • Disney Stars Join Calls to Boycott and Cancel Subscriptions

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    Photo: Middle East Images/AFP via Getty

    ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 17 after Nexstar, the largest television-station owner in the country, promised to pull it over Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death. In response, some people are now pulling their support for ABC and parent company Disney. The WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and celebrities across Hollywood have all spoken up in support of Kimmel, and in-person protests are happening on both coasts. Meanwhile, some creatives with ties to Disney are speaking out: Lost creator Damon Lindelof announced on September 18 that he will not work for Disney until Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns, while She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany has endorsed a boycott of Disney+ and Hulk Mark Ruffalo points out the economic impact. Stars from other studios, like Cynthia Nixon, Noah Centineo, and more, are showing their support as well by cancelling their subs.

    Hundreds of WGA and SAG-AFTRA members picketed outside Disney’s headquarters in Burbank on September 18, displaying signs with messages including “ABC Bends the Knee to Fascism” and “This is literally what your show Andor is about!” On the same day, picketers also gathered outside of El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, where Kimmel tapes his show. “Here Comes Hitler: A New Comedy From ABC,” one sign read. Several other signs encouraged people to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu.

    About 100 people also gathered in front of ABC’s New York headquarters where the crowd chanted “Kimmel stays, Trump must go” and “ABC, grow a spine,” per Variety. Assemblymember Alex Bores said in a speech that it is “un-American” for the government to take someone off the air “because of political speech.” And there are plans for more picketing: The Writers Guild of America East announced that it will protest outside the entrance to ABC’s offices in Manhattan on Friday to “demand ABC bring back Jimmy Kimmel Live! and to fight to protect free speech.”

    The Hulk actor quoted a post about how Disney’s stock is reportedly down 7% and points out how much worse it can get financially. He writes, “It’s going to go down a lot further if they cancel his show. Disney does not want to be the ones that broke America.”

    Nixon shared a video of herself canceling her Hulu and Disney+ subscription in solidarity with Kimmel. She explained how she let the streamers know the reasoning behind her decision. The HBO star said, “They asked me why and I hit other and I wrote, ‘Because I believe in the First Amendment, reinstate Jimmy Kimmel now.’” She then named Abbott Elementary and Only Murders in the Building as shows her family would miss but they would miss the First Amendment more.

    While it looks like Centineo might’ve bought a Disney+ subscription just to cancel it, he’s standing in solidarity with the boycott. How else is The Fosters star supposed to participate if he didn’t have a subscription to begin with?

    The Supernatural actor posted that he will be canceling his Disney+ subscription “indefinitely,” following the same language as the original Kimmel suspension.

    Maslany, who plays the titular role in Disney+’s She-Hulk, encouraged more than half a million followers to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN in a September 18 Instagram Story.

    While calls to boycott Disney have spread, including from action group 50501, Lindelof is the first creative to publicly threaten to boycott working with the company entirely until Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns. “I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon,” Lindelof wrote in a September 18 Instagram post. “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.”

    The Watchmen creator also emphasized his friendship to Kimmel and faith in the host’s patriotism. “I met him for the first time backstage at the ABC upfronts in 2004,” Lindelof wrote. “He had just seen the Lost pilot and dug it. He also said, ‘I hope you guys know what you’re doing.’” He added that, “In the twenty years since, I’ve gotten to know Jimmy and if you know Jimmy, you know his incredible wife and head writer, Molly, who is not just his better half but his better three quarters. You also know he is caring and empathic and grateful. You know he loves his country.”

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