[[link removed]]

PEOPLE ARE BOYCOTTING DISNEY, HULU, AND ESPN  
[[link removed]]


 

Saleah Blancaflor
September 19, 2025
Fast Company
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Some experts who study the impact of brand backlash doubt the
entertainment giant will suffer in the long term, but that doesn’t
mean it has nothing to lose. _

Protesters’ signs rest on a ledge during an ABC protest in front of
the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on September 18, 2025., Benjamin
Hanson/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images]

 

After Jimmy Kimmel made comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk on
his show_ Jimmy Kimmel Live!, _ABC suspended
[[link removed]]
the long-running program. The move came in the wake of criticism from
Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),
who was appointed to the agency by President Trump in November.

However, the choice to suspend Kimmel has also prompted swelling
backlash from the other side, with people on social media threatening
to boycott the Walt Disney Company, which owns not only ABC but a
sprawling empire of media and entertainment properties.

Many online are vowing to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions as well
as other Disney-owned platforms like ESPN and Hulu. 

The backlash is also spilling into the real world, with hundreds of
protesters—including writers and actors—showing up
[[link removed]]
outside Disney headquarters in Los Angeles to protest the suspension
of Kimmel’s show and voice their support for free speech.

Celebrities including Pedro Pascal, Adam Scott, and Wanda Sykes also
shared their support online for Kimmel.

Screenwriter and producer Damon Lindelof, who is also the cocreator of
ABC’s _Lost_, shared on Instagram
[[link removed]]
that he would not work with Disney on future projects if the decision
is not reversed. 

Marvel star Tatiana Maslany, who portrays She-Hulk in the Disney+
series, encouraged the actions of fans to cancel
[[link removed]]
their Disney+, ESPN, and Hulu subscriptions following the news.

ABC, which has aired _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_ since 2003, did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. _Fast Company_ also
reached out to Hulu, ESPN, and the Walt Disney Company.

Will a boycott actually work?

Some analysts believe that the actual backlash against Disney might be
short-lived and won’t result in sustained harm to the entertainment
giant, which generated $91.4 billion last year.

Mike Proulx, vice president and research director for Forrester,
previously published research in 2022
[[link removed]]
about “cancel culture,” which he still believes is relevant and
rings true in this case.

“What’s changed since this research is that we’ve now seen
instances—Bud Light, Target—where concentrated consumer-organized
campaigns to cancel a business can, indeed, materially affect a
company’s top line, but they’re still the exception,” Proulx
told_ Fast Company_.

Proulx said when it comes to the current calls to cancel subscriptions
to Disney+, ESPN, and Hulu, he’s watching to see if this will have
any effect on Disney’s direct-to-consumer revenue when the company
reports its quarterly earnings. 

“Whether it has a wide sweeping and lasting effect or not depends,
first, on what the resolution to the Kimmel issue looks like,”
Proulx said. “But it further depends on the willpower of those
who’ve cancelled their subscriptions to not resubscribe.”

He adds, “Chances are, when that ‘must see’ movie or series that
everyone is talking about hit Disney+, FOMO will win out.”

Forrester’s previous research has found that threats to cancel tend
to outpace actual followthrough, Proulx said. 

Elizabeth Parks, president and chief marketing
[[link removed]] officer of Park
Associates, said Disney’s biggest risk in the short-term is
potentially losing advertisers, but large-scale subscriber losses for
Disney+ or Hulu are unlikely—although it’s certainly still
possible. 

According to research from Parks Associates, annualized churn rates
for vMVPD and streaming services on average are 30% and higher, but
churn rates for Disney, Hulu, and ESPN+ are relatively low at 17%,
16%, and 9%, respectively.

All politics is local

Parks added that if anything, the public backlash could at least
impact local programming. 

Nexstar Communications Group, which operates 23 ABC affiliate
networks, also said it would remove _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_ starting
Wednesday, with Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting
division, saying in a statement that Kimmel’s comments about
Kirk’s death “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in
our national political discourse.”

“If there’s public backlash against ABC and Disney due to show
suspension, it could affect viewership of ABC network programming
locally,” Parks said. “This could then affect ad rates or demand
for slots on local ABC stations, especially in markets where
ABC-affiliated stations are strong or high-rated.”

Meanwhile, Brandon Katz, director of insights and content strategy at
Greenlight Analytics, shared a similar sentiment, saying that while
the future is uncertain, backlash against major media companies tends
to be temporary.

“While no one has a crystal ball, my gut reaction is that, much like
company controversies in the past across the media landscape,
including Netflix, this will lead to temporary small-scale churn amid
public backlash before returning to normalcy,” Katz said. “The
truth of the matter is that—right or wrong—general consumers just
aren’t as phased by these periodic issues that crop up.”

Disney also owns Pixar, which is home to many family-friendly animated
films, and Katz said that with many families looking for programming
to entertain their kids, a cancellation might be a difficult decision
for parents to make.

“Can parents reasonably explain the cancellation of Disney+ to their
young kids?,” Katz said. “The business reality may simply outweigh
the sociopolitical considerations involved.”

Shares of the Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) were down slightly on
Friday, trading 1.2% lower as of late morning.

Late doomers
During his monologue on Monday’s episode, Kimmel joked that “many
in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of
Charlie Kirk.” 

Following the episode, Carr said that Kimmel’s remarks were “truly
sick” and suggested that the FCC had a “strong case” against
Kimmel, ABC, and the Walt Disney Company for spreading
misinformation. 

Kimmel’s removal is another blow to late-night television following
CBS’s cancellation of _The Late Show With Stephen Colbert_, which
came two weeks after the network settled a defamation lawsuit with
President Trump.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote on Truth
Social
[[link removed]]following
the cancellation of Colbert’s show. “His talent was even less than
his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”

But Kimmel’s suspension also marks a turning point in broadcast TV
when it comes to free speech and censorship in entertainment. Joe
Berkowitz wrote for_ Fast Company_
[[link removed]]_
_earlier this week that what happened to Kimmel could be seen as a
warning to other TV commentators to watch what they say.

On Thursday, Carr appeared on CNBC
[[link removed]]
saying that the FCC was “not done yet” with the changes in “the
media ecosystem.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saleah Blancaflor is a freelance journalist who covers business,
entertainment, culture, and lifestyle. Her work has been published in
Morning Consult, NBC News, People, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, and
more. More [[link removed]]

* censorship
[[link removed]]
* Jimmy Kimmel
[[link removed]]
* Disney
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]