Here’s What a Kimmel Staffer Has to Say About Disney, Trump and the Future
Jimmy Kimmel still hasn’t returned to TV, and as more time passes, speculation rises about how Disney is going to dig themselves out of their capitulation to the Trump administration. Kimmel has yet to directly address the public about the situation, but we now have insight from one of the show’s writers.
“It was becoming increasingly clear in recent weeks that Sir Iger and the ABC executives would cut us loose in a second if they thought something we did might hurt attendance at Disney World or cost anyone their annual bonus,” an anonymous staff writer told Rick Ellis for his Too Much TV Substack.
The writer said that working on the show had been great, but everything external to the show sucked. In fact, Kimmel and some of the other staffers were getting threatened, especially by Trump supporters. Given the consensus that Disney wouldn’t be willing to protect Live!, the staffer told Ellis that he wasn’t entirely shocked when ABC pulled Kimmel from the air.
Don't Miss
“I had zero faith that any of the network execs had the slightest bit of stones to stand up for their employees,” they told Ellis. “I mean, yeah, I was surprised it happened that specific day. But you could see it coming. Every time some MAGA asshat would spout off about the show, the knot in my stomach just got tighter.”
The staffer did say they wouldn’t share their own thoughts about the comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder that the FCC used as a pretense to pressure ABC, Nexstar and Sinclair. “Even if I thought that, I would never say it out loud. I would feel as if I was betraying the show,” they said. “But no, I don’t think they had a point. The Trump folks are like that crooked cop who wants to pull over a driver and waits until they make some slight mistake.”
Unsurprisingly, one of the primary concerns for the staffer was employment, not just for themselves but for everyone on the show. “The unemployment thing is a big deal for me. There are a lot of people working on the show who can’t afford to be out of work,” the staffer said. “They have jobs that won’t pay them if they don’t work. And they likely don’t have much money saved up.”
Ellis pointed out that these statements make it seem like Live! might not make it back to television. “I want to think it will. But I can’t imagine a scenario in which that happens.”
The staffer’s statements come as reports of tense conversations between Kimmel and ABC executives circulate. According to Puck News, a meeting between Kimmel and ABC executive Dana Walden ended without resolution.
Read the staffer’s full interview here.
