ABC News Studios has canceled the red carpet at Sunday’s Los Angeles premiere of its documentary “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story.”
“Please note this event will no longer be hosting a red carpet,” reads an email sent to members of the press early Saturday night. “We appreciate your willingness to attend and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
No reason was given for the abrupt change, but the scaled back plans come amid the controversy surrounding Disney’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel amid threats from the FCC and a campaign against the host fueled by right-wing media.
Nixing the “Lilith Fair” red carpet came just 24 hours after confirmation emails had been sent to reporters and photographers to cover the event, which would have included Sarah McLachlan, Jewel and Mýa walking the carpet as well as director Ally Pankiw.
The premiere screening and surprise performances are still set to take place at the Ford in Hollywood at 6 p.m.
The host has made no public comment since “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was pulled from its regular 11:35 p.m. slot on Sept. 17, with Disney saying only that the program would be off of its schedule “indefinitely” after one of the biggest owners of TV stations in the U.S., Nexstar, said it intended to pre-empt airings of the program following remarks the host made in relation to Trump and the slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Sinclair, another large station owner, said it too was taking Kimmel off of its stations.
ABC News Studios released “Lilith Fair” on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S. and Disney+ Internationally on Sunday.
Backlash in the creative community to Kimmel’s suspension has been growing. Celebrities and politicians have been sounding off publicly. Most recently, Marvel star Mark Ruffalo re-shared a report on Threads that claims Disney’s stock dropped 7% after ABC pre-empted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and wrote, “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.” (The drop was actually actually 1% on Thursday and 0.95% on Friday.)
Fellow MCU-er Kathryn Hahn also weighed in on Sept. 20. The “Agatha All Along” star posted a story on Instagram showing her hosting and as a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel.” Along with a throwing up emoji, she wrote, “#freespeech #jimmykimmellive.”
Social media has also been flooded with Hulu and Disney+ users posting that they’ve canceled their subscriptions to the streaming services.
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner also took the company to task.
“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?”
Eisner continued, “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.’”
Kimmel’s fellow late-night hosts Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon have voiced their support during their show’s opening monologues.
President Donald Trump is unwavering in his backing of FCC chairman Brendan Carr.
“When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump,” Trump said on Sept. 18. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat Party.”
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, the president also complained that 97% of broadcast news coverage is “against me.”
“They give me only bad press,” he said. “They’re getting a license. I think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy. So we’ll see.”
The “Lilith Fair” doc was commissioned by CBC and produced by Dan Levy’s Not A Real Production Company and Elevation Pictures for ABC News Studios, and presented by White Horse Pictures in association with Epic Magazine.
In his review of the doc, Variety‘s Chris Willman wrote that it “offers an absorbing look back at why the Sarah McLachlan-led, female-fronted festivals of the 1990s felt revolutionary.”
