Kimmel Corporate Fallout: Threatening Legal Action

“The Company’s response to the books and records demands set forth below will allow AFT and RWB to assess the ability of the Board to impartially consider a demand for action, including a request for permission to file a derivative lawsuit on Disney’s behalf in the event that members of the Board or Disney executives did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties,” the attorneys for the House of Mouse shareholders add.

Connecting all the red string on possible root causes of Kimmel’s benching on an alliance of MAGA strong-arming, a FCC chair eager to hand the boss a scalp, some big-ticket small-screen mergers in the making and more, Kaplan and crew both praise the return of Kimmel to the air and make no secret of their suspicions — nor the cash money backlash.

“Disney’s stock suffered significant declines in response to the Company’s abrupt decision to suspend Mr. Kimmel and his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which appeared to be in response to threats from the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (‘FCC’), Brendan Carr, and ABC affiliates (notably, those owned and operated by Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (‘Nexstar’) and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (‘Sinclair’), who refused to air the show,” the four-page letter co-signed by the DC-based Democracy Defenders Fund states.

To be very specific, those aforementioned “significant declines” in Disney’s stock last week equal a $4 billion loss to the company’s value. While a single-digit decline in real terms, a $4 billion loss is neither chump nor Trump change for any shareholders.

With some mild legalese and with a deadline of five business days, the letter also states: “Should Disney fail to comply with its obligations, whether by refusing to timely respond or refusing this Demand in whole or in part, AFT and RWB reserve their rights to initiate an action compelling such production and to pursue all available remedies. You are obligated to take all necessary steps to preserve any and all documents and communications relating to the foregoing categories of information. AFT and RWB reserve their rights and waive none.”

Officially, Disney brass Iger and Dana Walden’s September 17 decision to take Live! off the air “indefinitely” supposedly was over what the company later termed “ill-timed” and “insensitive” remarks Kimmel made on his September 15 show about MAGA and Trump’s response to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk days before. In his opening on September 23, Kimmel spoke of what his intentions were in his September 15 comments, the response, the support he’s received and the dangers of censorship and attacks on the First Amendment.

However, despite the insistence of some inside Disney that there was no outside pressure to take Kimmel off the air or put him back on (even with a growing star-studded chorus of dissent), it can’t be ignored that Kimmel was all set to go on air on September 17. That is until in quick succession Carr started throwing his weight around with possible regulatory brass knuckles against the home of Mickey and Pluto, and Nexatar, which owns 32 ABC affiliate stations and is looking to seal federal approval on a multibillion-dollar merger with Tegna, announced they were taking Live! off the air.

“A bedrock of the United States and the key to our survival as the world’s oldest democracy is freedom of speech,” the Kaplan Martin founder and counsel for AFT and RSF told Deadline today. “The government cannot and should not threaten to punish someone simply because it does not like what they have to say. And while large media companies have been at the front lines, they too should not succumb to unconstitutional threats or blackmail. ABC was the network to run the series Schoolhouse Rock more than 50 years ago. Its leadership should pay attention to the important lessons it taught, particularly in the episodes ‘The Preamble’ and ‘No More Kings.’”

I hope they sue the FUCK out of Disney for this bullshit.

Make those motherfuckers pay for caving to the motherfucking authoritarian Tyrant.

DOWN WITH DICTATORS!

Interesting.

In World War 2, Disney would have been considered a "collaborator" with the Axis powers.

That's how disgusting they are.

I refuse to patronize anything Disney OR their affiliates.

[quote] Kimmel Corporate Fallout Continues: Irate Shareholders Have Nothing Yet From Disney About Suspension; Legal Threat Looms With Tuesday Expiration Date For Documents

EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s risking a high-stakes courtroom showdown about what really went down over Jimmy Kimmel’s much-criticized suspension unless the Bob Iger-run media giant coughs up some serious documents and information in the next 24 hours.

Filming from Brooklyn this week, the sharp-tongued Kimmel’s been back on ABC’s airwaves since September 23 after a weeklong MAGA-induced benching. However, for all the renewed attention on the outspoken and well-spoken late-nighter and his upcoming East Coast guests including Ryan Reynolds, Stephen Colbert, Spike Lee, Emily Blunt and Bruce Springsteen, the real Jimmy Kimmel Live! action, or lack thereof, is in Burbank today.

As of Monday evening, “the books and records” over possible “improper political or affiliate considerations” that Roberta Kaplan and other lawyers for Disney shareholders the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO and Reporters Without Borders asked for on September 24 in a terse letter to the CEO have not shown up.

The shareholders are calling out the company’s C-suites as responsible for “significant declines” (aka $4 billion fall) in the company’s stock in the blast radius of Kimmel going dark after the FCC chair started tossing his weight around about remarks the long-serving late-night host made about Trump and MAGA’s reaction to the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk (watch his Kimmels comments here).

Now money — specifically $4 billion — may talk, but, despite laying out that the company “contact us promptly to confirm that Disney will permit AFT and RWB to inspect and copy what is being demanded, and to confirm the logistical details of that inspection,” it seems to have been radio silence from Burbank so far.

“This is a game of chicken, with someone getting out of the way only at the last minute,” an insider told Deadline today of Disney’s tactics. “They know the stakes.”

Famous for her takedown of Donald Trump in E. Jean Carroll’s suits against the former Apprentice host, the stakes Kaplan gave Iger on September 24 was “within five (5) business days of this letter” to hand over the paperwork for “inspection and copying.”

Failing that, with expressed concerns “the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith,” Kaplan and her fellow attorneys say their clients “reserve their rights to initiate an action compelling such production and to pursue all available remedies.”

With the clock ticking as of the demand itself, can you say (as the letter of last week actually does) “derivative lawsuit”?

Reps for shareholders’ main lawyer Kaplan declined comment today on the state of affairs with Disney and their demands. Disney also did not have a comment on Deadline’s request on the documents and other information demanded from the shareholders or where the process is at Monday.

Of course, even with Kimmel back and back on affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar as of September 26, the shareholders’ demand isn’t the only minefield threatening Disney. Having squeezed at least $15 million out of Iger and Disney to make a thin suit over ill-chosen comments by George Stephanopoulos go away last December, Trump now is back on the warpath with Kimmel’s return.

“I think we’re going to test ABC out on this,” Trump posted on September 23 after Kimmel’s return show was taped but not yet aired. “Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”

The clock is ticking.