Editors at Issues and Insights pour cold water on a media narrative surrounding ABC’s recent suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Two months ago today, people who enjoy comedy breathed a sigh of relief when Disney suspended low-rated late-night “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel for what he’d said, and planned to say, about Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Less than a week later, Kimmel was back on the air.
In between was an orgy of leftist outrage about how President Donald Trump was somehow responsible for forcing Kimmel off the air, that this was yet another sign of authoritarianism on the march, and “the mask of ‘free speech’ coming off for good.”
Our favorite was a warning from “actor” Mark Ruffalo, who went on Threads the next day and linked to an article claiming that “Disney stock drops 7% after ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel show.” To which Ruffalo added, “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.” …
… For a few days after Disney caved and put Kimmel back on the air, its stock did tick up a bit, climbing to 114.78 by Sept. 29.
But as we predicted, this was likely to be short-lived. …
Disney stock was down 41% from its March 2021 high and had been trading around 100 ever since. That was at least in part due to the company’s embrace of the woke agenda, which caused it to churn out a series of leftist agitprop movie and TV flops and sparked waves of Disney+ cancellations. (Worldwide subscriptions are 23% lower now than the peak in late-2022.) …
… Well, on Friday, after a disappointing earnings report, Disney closed at 105.8 – which is 9% below where it was two months ago and, in fact, below where it was in March … of 2015!
(Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings, meanwhile, which were in the toilet before the suspension, are back in the toilet.)
