\n<\/p>\n
A group of Disney investors is asking the company to turn over documents related to the company\u2019s decision to temporarily suspend Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show, amid charges the media company may have been \u201ccomplicit in succumbing\u201d to media censorship.<\/p>\n
The investors, composed of lawyers for the American Federation of Teachers and Reporters Without Borders, noted that Disney\u2019s stock \u201csuffered significant declines in response to the company\u2019s abrupt decision to suspend Mr. Kimmel and his show\u201d, it said in a letter to Disney.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fallout from suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! sparked criticism as an attack on free speech, triggered boycotts and union support for Mr. Kimmel, and caused Disney\u2019s stock to plummet amid fears of brand damage and concerns that Disney was complicit in succumbing to the government overreach and media censorship,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n
The lawyers are demanding \u201ccopies of any meeting minutes, meeting agenda and written materials provided to the [company\u2019s] board or presented at any meeting of the board\u201d regarding Kimmel\u2019s decision. It cites a law in Delaware, where Disney is incorporated, that says shareholders can receive materials around board discussion \u201cto investigate potential wrongdoing, mismanagement and breach of fiduciary duty by members [of the board]\u201d.<\/p>\n
Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comments.<\/p>\n
The company first suspended Kimmel\u2019s show \u201cindefinitely\u201d on 17 September, after the network aired comments Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing saying \u201cthe Maga gang [is] 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\u201d.<\/p>\n
The next day, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, Brendan Carr, criticized Kimmel\u2019s comments and said that the regulatory agency would be willing to throw its weight behind making sure the companies airing Kimmel\u2019s show are held accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr said. \u201cThese companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel, or there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after, Nexstar Media Group, a major owner of ABC affiliates, announced it would preempt Kimmel\u2019s show, calling Kimmel\u2019s comments \u201coffensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse\u201d. Nexstar is seeking FCC approval for a $6.2bn merger with Tegna, another major TV station owner.<\/p>\n
After Nexstar\u2019s announcement, ABC, which is owned by Disney, announced it would halt Kimmel\u2019s show \u201cindefinitely\u201d without further explanation. A few days later, ABC said the show would return Tuesday night. Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group, another major owner of ABC affiliates, said they would continue to preempt the show, which amounts to a Kimmel blackout for 25% of TV audiences. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A group of Disney investors is asking the company to turn over documents related to the company\u2019s decision to temporarily suspend Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show, amid charges the media company may have been \u201ccomplicit in succumbing\u201d to media censorship. The investors, composed of lawyers for the American Federation of Teachers and Reporters Without Borders, noted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[2071,10279,522,1729,3707,3106,235,441,4594,14261],"class_list":{"0":"post-23804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-company","9":"tag-companys","10":"tag-demand","11":"tag-details","12":"tag-disney","13":"tag-investors","14":"tag-jimmy","15":"tag-kimmel","16":"tag-suspension","17":"tag-walt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}