Tag: Bob Iger

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Bob Iger Jimmy Kimmel

Disney shareholders demand answers over Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

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Jimmy Kimmel Live was back again last night, after Kimmel returned from his network suspension on Tuesday. There honestly seems to be a different vibe with Jimmy Kimmel right now. Like, suspending him over a completely appropriate and accurate observation actually woke him up and made him more locked-in than ever. It was said that Kimmel was feeling sort of burned out, but now that Donald Trump is targeting him so heavily, Kimmel has a new lease on life. Here’s Kimmel’s opening monologue from last night:

He obviously feels like he has the greenlight to keep criticizing and making fun of Trump. Which is great, that he’s not pulling his punches. Kimmel’s comeback episode on Tuesday also had the best ratings he’s gotten in many years, even with Nexstar and Sinclair’s blackouts. CNN reports that Kimmel’s comeback show got 6.3 million broadcast viewers, meaning people actually watching it on television as it aired. The YouTube video of his Tuesday monologue has over 19.5 million views. As it turns out, Americans actually want late-night talk show hosts to be able to mock the president, and Americans vote with their wallets and their attention spans. Speaking of, Semafor had an interesting exclusive about Kimmel’s suspension and what happened behind-the-scenes at ABC/Disney. Disney shareholders are threatening to sue over Kimmel’s suspension.

A group of Disney shareholders are demanding that the company turn over documents related to its decision to briefly suspend late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show last week.

In a letter to Disney first shared with Semafor, lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, Reporters Without Borders, Inc. and other groups, all of which say they are Disney shareholders, requested the Hollywood entertainment giant turn over board records related to Kimmel’s suspension.

The group criticized the decision to suspend the comedian after comments about the conservative reaction to the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk, and said that investors were entitled to investigate whether the company’s leaders “did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties” in deciding to bench Kimmel amid threats from the FCC. The fallout, which sparked criticisms that Disney was caving on free-speech issues and drew some threats from Hollywood talent to stop working with the company, shaved more than $4 billion off its market value last week.

The group wants any materials that estimate the effect of Kimmel’s suspension on Disney’s revenue, as well as documents that lay out how executives are supposed to make decisions around “politically sensitive programming.” It also wants copies of Disney’s agreements with affiliate networks Nexstar and Sinclair, whose initial threats to black out Kimmel’s show appear to have sparked his suspension; emails between board members, including CEO Bob Iger; and any communications between the company and federal government or political organizations.

“Although we are pleased that ABC did the right thing and put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air last night, due to the Trump administration’s continued threats to free speech, including with respect to ABC, we are writing to seek transparency into the initial decision to suspend him and his show,” the letter said.

“There is a credible basis to suspect that the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.”

[From Semafor]

This is a great angle to take, for shareholders to demand that a huge, publicly-traded company actually grow a set and stand up for American values AND stand up for good business. Once again, what has happened over the past nine days would be completely different if consumers didn’t immediately drop their Disney, Hulu and ESPN subscriptions. Artists immediately began boycotting Disney and publicly expressing their displeasure, which also affected Disney’s bottom line. Disney’s shareholders absolutely deserve answers here.

Photos courtesy of ABC/Disney and Avalon Red.

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Bob Iger Disney Jimmy Kimmel

After Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, people are unsubscribing from Disney & ESPN+

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ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel last Wednesday for saying this on-air: “The MAGA gang [are] 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.” Reportedly, there have been conversations all up and down ABC leadership and Kimmel. Every report emphasizes that Disney CEO Bob Iger made the call to suspend Kimmel’s show indefinitely. While everyone is rightly concerned about the First Amendment issues, part of me wonders if, from a corporate perspective, Iger was simply trying to cool the temperature – sort of “let’s hit pause and see where we are in a week when everyone has cooled down.” Maybe I’m giving Iger too much credit though – reportedly, both sides (ABC and Kimmel) are talking and discussions are “ongoing” as of this writing. Well, Disney’s former CEO Michael Eisner has some thoughts about Iger’s (lack of) leadership in this moment:

Michael Eisner, the former Disney CEO who exited the company 20 years ago, criticized the senior leaders of his former employer — and, implicitly, current chief Bob Iger — over ABC’s suspending Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night show “indefinitely.”

“Where has all the leadership gone?” Eisner wrote Friday in a post on X. “If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment? The ‘suspending indefinitely’ of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC’s aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation. Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.’ By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.”

[From Variety]

The kids won’t know this, but it’s actually a pretty big deal that Eisner spoke up. Eisner’s tenure at Disney was legendary, and his time as Disney CEO saw the company being built into a modern multiplatform cultural empire. Would Eisner have made different choices in Iger’s position? Possibly.

What else? There’s been a lot of reaction from celebrities, Democrats and Hollywood types. I wasn’t expecting this, but Ted Cruz spoke up in defense of Kimmel and the First Amendment. Cruz said that FCC commissioner’s threats to ABC were “dangerous as hell” and “right out of Goodfellas.” Several major Disney-associated directors and stars have spoken up as well:

Within 48 hours of its decision to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air indefinitely, the parent company of ABC has once again found itself at the center of a bitter political battle. The company now faces protests outside its studios, celebrities threatening to break ties and political pressure from Republicans and Democrats.

The blowback has been swift. Damon Lindelof, creator of ABC’s “Lost,” said in an Instagram post on Thursday that he would not work with the company if Kimmel’s suspension was not lifted. The Emmy-winning showrunner has a long-standing relationship with the studio, having worked with them on “Lost” for six seasons from 2004 to 2010.

Tatiana Maslany, who starred in Marvel’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” which aired its first and only season on Disney in 2022, posted a call to her followers on Instagram to “cancel your @disneyplus @hulu @espn subscriptions!”

[From NBC News]

There was a seemingly organic response to Kimmel’s suspension: people really did cancel their Disney/Hulu subscription. At a steady clip too – I’ve seen some evidence on social media that the mass subscription cancellations are scaring the sh-t out of Disney. Remember that Disney also owns ESPN and ESPN too – I’m reminding myself to cancel my subscription (which I only use for tennis). Sinclair owns Tennis Channel, so if you have Tennis Channel Plus, cancel or unsubscribe.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.





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Bob Iger Disney Kathleen Kennedy Oscars Star Wars

Kathleen Kennedy lobbied for Disney boss Bob Iger to get an honorary Oscar

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Kathleen Kennedy is a powerhouse movie producer. She’s been nominated for an Oscar eight times in the Best Picture category, and five of those were for films helmed by her longtime collaborator Steven Spielberg. Then in 2012, Kennedy made a pivot from producing to being the president of Lucasfilm, after George Lucas sold his studio to Disney for $4 billion. So basically, any Star Wars related content you’ve seen over the last 13 years, that project was greenlit by Kennedy. There have been hits (Andor) and misses (Solo), as well as some ideas that were never really given a fair shot (The Acolyte). Has she been perfect? Definitely no. Has every move she made been picked apart thanks to some good old fashioned misogyny? Definitely yes. So the trades started reporting in February that Kennedy was on her way out as head of Lucasfilm when her contract ends this year. Now this curious item: “sources” are saying that Kennedy is lobbying hard for Bob Iger to get an honorary Oscar this year. Her Disney business daddy. Oh, and Disney also owns ABC, the network that airs the Oscars and is renegotiating a deal to keep those rights past 2028. Hmmm…

Kathleen Kennedy, president of “Star Wars” creator Lucasfilm, certainly knows how to use the Force — specifically within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The producer-executive has been ardently lobbying members of the group to obtain an Honorary Oscar for her boss, Disney chief Bob Iger, four insiders with knowledge of the matter told Variety.

Kennedy has reached out to select players at the board level inside AMPAS, encouraging them to recommend one of the annual honors go to Iger — the man who secured Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm for Disney’s war chest of intellectual property, selling billions of dollars’ worth of movie tickets in the process. All branches of the Academy have been active in recent weeks, meeting about new membership matters, and Kennedy has used the opportunity to schmooze on Iger’s behalf.

While few in the industry would question Iger’s worthiness of the prize, some board members have been squeamish over the optics, sources said. Disney, of course, owns the Oscars’ longtime broadcast partner, ABC. Some of the members pitched feel that’s a conflict of interest.

Moreover, others noted, the Academy happens to be in the middle of negotiations with the network to renew its licensing agreement beyond 2028 (which will mark the 100th Academy Awards ceremony). Iger had no knowledge of Kennedy’s outreach and did not request she pursue the honor, according to two people familiar with the process. It is considered routine for Academy members to lobby on behalf of honorary Oscar candidates, an AMPAS insider said, though some inside the organization are curious about Kennedy’s motives.

Representatives for Kennedy and Iger had no comment. An AMPAS spokesperson declined to comment as well.

[From Variety]

“Iger had no knowledge of Kennedy’s outreach and did not request she pursue the honor … It is considered routine for Academy members to lobby on behalf of honorary Oscar candidates…” Have I become completely jaded, or did anyone else upon reading that part, imagine a hapless third executive assistant taking down Iger’s dictation to leak those exact words to Variety? Regardless, there are undeniably major conflicts of interest at issue here, and I can’t figure out what the larger play is. Kennedy — who herself already has the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy — is possibly stepping down by the end of this year. Bob Iger is supposedly re-retiring as Disney CEO in 2026, but that date is already pushed back from the originally planned 2023 exit. And if ABC, part of The Mouse’s kingdom, wants to secure Oscar airing rights, how does lobbying hard for the Academy to give Iger an award help move things along? Why is it so crucial that Iger is bestowed an honorary Oscar this year? Are his $15 million salary plus $27 million yearly bonuses not enough? I have no answers! Just the commentary that when a house becomes so all powerful — Disney owns Lucasfilm and Marvel and Pixar and ABC — problems are bound to arise. Just ask the royal family.

Note by CB: The honorary Oscars were announced after Kismet wrote this story and Bob Iger was unsurprisingly not included.

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Bob Iger

Bob Iger: The WGA & SAG strikes are ‘very disturbing to me’ & very ‘disruptive’

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Bob Igor is Disney’s CEO. He was CEO for fifteen years before stepping down in late 2021, then he returned as CEO in November 2022. Iger’s reclaiming of the CEO’s desk came with a $15 million pay package, with bonus targets for up to $27 million for just 2023. Iger’s return was supposed to be a temporary thing, a bridge to help Disney find a more modern (and younger) CEO. Instead, just a few days ago, Disney announced that Iger was staying on until 2026, presumably under a comparable salary and compensation package which would see him making (again) around $27 million a year (probably much more). Disney has also laid off thousands of employees in recent months. Well, wouldn’t you know, Bob Iger has some thoughts on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

During an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday morning, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the writers and actors unions going on strike in Hollywood are not being “realistic” with their expectations. Speaking to CNBC’s David Faber from the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, Iger commented on the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike and imminent decision for SAG-AFTRA to join them.

“It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said. “I understand any labor organization’s desire to work on behalf of its members to get the most compensation and be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver. We managed, as an industry, to negotiate a very good deal with the directors guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business. We wanted to do the same thing with the writers, and we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”

Iger said that while he respects the right of the unions to “get as much as they possibly can in compensation for their people,” they must “be realistic about the business environment, and what this business can deliver.”

Iger continued, “It will have a very, very damaging affect on the whole business, and unfortunately, there’s huge collateral damage in the industry to people who are supportive services, and I could go on and on. It will affect the economy of different regions, even, because of the sheer size of the business. It’s a shame, it is really a shame.”

[From Variety]

I do think that the strikes will damage the film and television industry and there will be a ripple effect of global disruptions to business-as-usual for these corporations…and that’s the f–king point. Strikes are not meant to be convenient or timed around what’s best for a business model which exploits workers. Basically, this is a CEO raking in an eight-figure annual salary, blaming working actors and writers for wanting to be fairly compensated for their work. Period. Considering the way Disney openly screws over their talent – Scarlett Johansson had to sue Disney for breach of contract AND THEY PUBLICLY SMEARED HER – Bob Iger needs to shut his f–king mouth about all of this.

Disney CEO Bob Iger, who makes $27 million a year, went to TV to say that writers and actors aren’t being realistic with their demands.

When asked why these workers are being unrealistic he says, “I can’t, I can’t answer that.” pic.twitter.com/mOhhqjcDOA

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) July 13, 2023

The fact that Bob Iger gave an anti-labor interview while he is reportedly having a 2nd yacht constructed to replace his 184 foot super yacht might be the most on brand CEO shit of the year.

— C. Robert Cargill (@Massawyrm) July 13, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.