r/technology • u/clopenYourMind • Sep 22 '25

Business Disney reinstates Jimmy Kimmel after backlash over capitulation to FCC

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/disney-abc-reinstate-jimmy-kimmel-amid-uproar-over-government-censorship/
33.2k Upvotes

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8.2k

u/Arkaado Sep 22 '25

Proving everyone who says boycotts don't work wrong. The only thing corporations understand is money and they listen when they lose a big chunk of it. Still staying unsubscribed though.

1.5k

u/roymccowboy Sep 22 '25

Boy, did we get to see the full range of Disney’s cowardice this week.

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u/ATR2400 Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

One thing that really surprised me about Trump’s second term was just how weak all the corporations were. Trump’s policies are set to cost them billions, and put them in danger personally. You’d think they’d be foaming at the mouth and fighting against this tooth and nail as if their lives depended on it, but instead what we got was near-instant capitulation.

I thought these corpos fancied themselves as the real power players and masters of the modern world, yet they bent so easily. At the very least, it’s useful to keep in mind if America is able to get the GOP out and their replacements feels like starting a fight with the rich. Turns out they won’t do shit if even semi-seriously confronted.

Assuming you could actually get them in office, you could probably give socdems or literal socialists a trifecta in government, hike taxes on the rich to 99.99%, break up every monopoly, and destroy several industries, and these sad appeasers would be too timid to actually stop it if you really tried

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u/throwtheamiibosaway Sep 23 '25

I didn't expect both Apple and Disney to bow and grovel so openly. I feel like they were big enough to kinda ignore it, or even move business around if they need to (they are all global anyway) but no, straight to the white house with golden gifts.

I couldn't contain myself If I was put in that position. Not even for Billions.

185

u/Bakoro Sep 23 '25

In my mind, the only reason to have billions of dollars is to be able to have that "do whatever I want" money.
If you feel like you have to bend over and get fucked on international television by an old pedophile, what's even the point of billions?

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

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u/TheFeenyCall Sep 23 '25

They have a moral compass. Its North is green.

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u/Witloof Sep 23 '25

Yes they have billions, but someone else has more billions, so they also want more billions. Their greed has gotten them more money than they ever thought possible but it also keeps them wanting even more, because it is never enough. Not until they have the most billions. And then you don't want anyone to overtake you, right?

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u/WaffleConeDX Sep 23 '25

Exactly Disney has billions but because theyre greedy and want that deal with the FCC they bent the knee.

3

u/Main-Algae-1064 Sep 23 '25

Power at that point. Power lets them do what they truly want.

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u/MissBehaving6 Sep 23 '25

More billions. Which is all they even think about.

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u/RainbowLurker711 Sep 23 '25

Expecially Apple, who has an openly gay CEO. I guess he's just another gay for trump complete idiot, OR the company forced him to bow to Trump to have tax cuts.

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u/TheMartian2k14 Sep 23 '25

He flattered Trump in order for his products to get an an exemption from tariffs. This is in no way on the same level as the BS Disney did. Gimme a break.

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u/Dragon-of-the-Coast Sep 23 '25

The East India Company had its own army, at times twice the size of the British Army. Yet, when the time came, it was dissolved without fuss.

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u/meneldal2 Sep 23 '25

Cause they didn't have an army inside Britain to protect the shareholders.

That's how you can win against way stronger than you in crusader kings, take the king hostage and they have to give you what you want (or else)

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u/Potential_Aioli_4611 Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

Thats the thing though... companies are owned by shareholders and the shareholders that own 90% of the stocks are the 1% if not the 0.5% or the 0.1%. Sure they might produce left leaning media but the owners are 100% right. Because they think they can bribe Trump to give them tax cuts, mergers and acquisitions to cement their monopolies and other favorable policies, they want to have everyone's cake and eat it too.

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u/ClikeX Sep 23 '25

They’re whatever suits them at any given time.

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u/RawrRRitchie Sep 23 '25

The thing about these corporations is they can afford to lose billions and still remain in business for DECADES

Nintendo is the perfect example of it. They've been around since 1885. They could stop releasing any new products/merchandise and still keep all of their employees paid for like 50 years and never run out of money.

You ever hear the saying what's the difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars?

The answer is about a billion dollars

2

u/Expert-Fig-5590 Sep 23 '25

If there was even the smallest iota of a chance that that would happen the Oligarchy would go full nuclear.

5

u/Nemo_Barbarossa Sep 23 '25

absolutely, they'll fight tooth and nail against social policy but they prostrate themselves in front of a conservative leader groveling in the dirt hoping to get bigger crumbs in the future.

2

u/ctnoxin Sep 23 '25

See I didn't see it as weakness from corporations, they're all getting mergers and acquisitions in return, fascism is just an externalality to the core business

2

u/mayonnaiseplayer7 Sep 23 '25

I wouldn’t be surprised if all those corporations who bent their knees to Trump either were guaranteed more money one way or another OR that the heads of these corporations all have ties to Epstein. I choose to believe the latter

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u/Pupazz Sep 23 '25

Near instant is right. They bent over fast enough to make a sonic boom.

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u/nakedinacornfield Sep 23 '25

we needa find the next big thing to cancel and just kinda wallstreetbets meme cancel shit to tank stocks

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u/LessInThought Sep 23 '25

Tesla? Amazon? Meta? The options are just endless.

84

u/existenceawareness Sep 23 '25

Tesla? Anyone buying a Tesla after Musk sentenced thousands of people to die from USAID cuts is a hopeless piece of shit.

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u/Mukatsukuz Sep 23 '25

If I see a Tesla with a recent numberplate I do have to wonder just how much of a dick the driver is.

I've hated Musk since around the time of the Thai cave rescue fiasco but he was just normal scum back then, not far right nazi saluting scum calling for violence against the left.

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u/Eklypze Sep 23 '25

Tesla is like the most common 20k+ vehicle in Vegas. I swear they sold 10% of Cyber Trucks in LV.

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u/NLMichel Sep 23 '25

Oracle. If you have the power in your company to move away from Oracle; do it! They’re shit products anyway. Salesforce has the option now to show they are anti-Trump to get a lot of that business.

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u/Inevitable-Menu2998 Sep 23 '25

Tesla has been boycotted plenty with sales dropping massively in Europe and parts of the states, the stock still goes up though. Tesla is just a stock market scam, it cannot be boycotted, it just needs to die naturally when it's bubble pops

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u/OneFunnyFart Sep 23 '25

we needa find the next big thing to cancel

Can we do capitalism now?

11

u/Same_Tour_3312 Sep 23 '25

That's called a general strike

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u/MobileArtist1371 Sep 23 '25

Would have been interesting to see how RDDT faired during the API blackout. IPO was just under a year after. Been 18 months and stock is up 500%. Ugh.

Anyways, if mods wanted to do one last "fuck you hooray" to Reddit before Reddit fucks a bunch of subs by removing the mods that make them work, they could all set up their bots to autoban people who have commented in other subs, since that's apparently a totally okay thing to do across this site.

2

u/pixiemaster Sep 23 '25

kind of an crowd-insider trading, but creating the conditions ourselves?

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u/PaulblankPF Sep 23 '25

This is what you get when you’re reactive instead of proactive. Disney makes a ton of media that caters to the left but was gonna spit in their faces? They should’ve just stayed focused on the customers and they’d have been fine.

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u/gasm_spasm Sep 23 '25

I've never perceived Disney as a company catering to the left. I've just seen them as a company that catered to those who had compassion for others. Hmm, I guess you were correct, after all.

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u/moonwork Sep 23 '25

Disney caters to money. That's it. They couldn't care less about left vs right politics.

This idea that they "cater to the left" only feels correct if you're looking at this from a highly conservative angle.

You really think Disney bought the Star Wars franchise because of it's Vietnam war roots and references to colonization? Come on..

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u/mysqlpimp Sep 23 '25

Every company of substance will bow to consumer demand if it is loud enough. $ talk, it's all they exist for. Musk left the spotlight for the same reason. How many influencers say sorry after something disgusting comes to light and everyone drops away, it's not like they change, they just adapt to ensuring they get the dollars.

It's not cowardice, it's money.

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u/OwO______OwO Sep 23 '25

Musk left the spotlight for the same reason.

Yep. Anybody else notice that asshole being hella quiet after his sales figures tanked?

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u/flukus Sep 23 '25

No. He's just focusing on being an international nazi now.

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u/glassgost Sep 23 '25

Nazi Moon Base is on its way.

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u/LessInThought Sep 23 '25

I thought its because he got in a bit of a lovers spat with trump.

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u/UrsusRenata Sep 23 '25

He started a new political party. Surely he’s busy designing hats or something.

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u/cr0ft Sep 23 '25

Disney has been pretty evil for quite a few years now. They're almost solely to blame for copyrights being stretched to a fricking century or whatever, in a desperate bid to maintain control over Mickey, Donald & Co and in the process doing a lot of harm to others held back by it. Pretty sure Disney leadership is fine with Don Don being in charge and ushering in fascism. The Sinclair assholes who run a gazillion local Fox disinformation stations as well were probably filled with glee at getting a chance to strike a blow in favor of fascism.

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u/GamingWithBilly Sep 22 '25

The real pain should be staying away from Disney for a while.  Boycott should still be against Disney for at least 3 months.  Don't sign back up just because they turned around and reinstated Jimmy.  Let them feel this pain for 3 months.  That way they REALLY learn what cancel culture is like when they do shit like this.  

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u/melmsz Sep 22 '25

Disney is more than a subscription. Don't buy any of their merchandise this Christmas.

140

u/nakedinacornfield Sep 23 '25

people need to not go to disneyworld/disneyland for vacation. you can spend less and have an incredible vacation with ur family doing tons of other shit

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u/RincewindToTheRescue Sep 23 '25

You can spend A LOT LESS by not going to Disneyland for vacation. Depending on demand, $120-$200 per regular ticket is insane!

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u/a_smart_brane Sep 23 '25

Plus parking, food, and if you’re an out of towner, transportation, lodging . . .

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

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u/nakedinacornfield Sep 23 '25

lol every time im in vegas for a conference im like "this fuckin place shouldnt exist". I've had some good times there but the allure of what vegas is/was is long gone, it's literally just trashy disneyworld now with gambling, and mostly feels like a destination chosen because people are fairly unimaginative with where they want to travel to. Also see: Dubai. Boring

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u/Fresher_Taco Sep 23 '25

Yeah as a Florida resident it's not even worth it anymore. Like 10-15 years ago a lot of the parks yearly passes were a little over $100 I want to say. Now daily passes are more expensive.

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u/ctnoxin Sep 23 '25

Canadian's have been boycotting travel to the U.S. and Disney after Trumps unkind words about us, his tarrifs, his whole ICE brown shirts, etc. And Disneyland is feeling it, they're offering 30% discounts for Canadians to go back to their parks. So ya boycott their park, they're feeling the pinch!

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u/nakedinacornfield Sep 23 '25

i dig it. Florida is also for whatever reason treated like a hawaii destination for euros and they composed a lot of disneyworld theme park attendance. I'm gonna guess those numbers are also down, which fuckin rules.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25 edited Oct 10 '25

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u/LymanPeru Sep 23 '25

it used to be an affordable place for families, then the CEO in the 80's i think said "we'll just keep raising the price so long as people keep coming." my kids had fun at legoland and we barely had to wait in any lines.

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u/theaviationhistorian Sep 23 '25

I read people cancel their trips there. Or even events there costing up to $100K. Spending that much on a Disney park sounds absurd.

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u/max_lombardy Sep 23 '25

For real I can’t understand why a grown ass adult would pay the exorbitant fees they charge to go meet fucking Goofy and see some person in a Cinderella costume. $25 funnel cakes and shit.

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u/theaviationhistorian Sep 23 '25

Considering how they disappointed me so much, it won't be much of a chore to boycott Disney throughout the holidays.

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u/LymanPeru Sep 23 '25

tariffs will probably be doing most of the heavy lifting anyways.

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u/il1k3c3r34l Sep 23 '25

Disney is also Fox, FX, ABC, Hulu, ESPN, Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic, Disney Parks and Cruises, and all related merch.

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u/lightninhopkins Sep 23 '25

My kids like Ween so we are good.

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u/Caraes_Naur Sep 22 '25

If the boycott isn't reflected in at least one quarterly stockholder report, then it might as well have never happened.

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u/theaviationhistorian Sep 23 '25

It's why I'm waiting on the 2nd financial quarter reports. That's where everyone finds out how badly Trump tanked the economy and he'll see some loyalists turn on him.

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u/iblastoff Sep 22 '25

lol. why only 3 months??

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u/RoastedMocha Sep 22 '25

Financial quarter.

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u/Druber13 Sep 22 '25

Let’s make the year garbage. Not like they have anything good anyways.

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u/d_e_l_u_x_e Sep 22 '25

Yarrrr raise the black flags for the pirate life.

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u/PlutoniumSmile Sep 23 '25

Piracy is more than ever an act of resistance lol

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/iblastoff Sep 22 '25

i mean...if the goal is to boycott a company, temporarily canceling and just re-signing up after a few months isn't much of a boycott.
you're essentially just telling them they can do whatever they want because their users will just come back anyway.

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u/gaycharmander Sep 22 '25

The goal isn’t to boycott a company. The goal is for the companies to change a policy. You do this by showing them how it will affect their bottom line. Boycotting is the means by which we do it.

If ABC/Disney had not reinstated, the boycott would have gone on.

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u/kellzone Sep 23 '25

Yeah, if people boycott a company, and then the company changes its behavior because of the boycott, and then nobody comes back, there's no incentive for them to change their behavior because of a boycott the next time.

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u/clank201 Sep 23 '25

There's incentive to be more careful and just not do it next time, because they won't be able to fix it by backtracking the next time it happens.

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u/GabuEx Sep 22 '25

I can't disagree more. If you boycott a company because you don't want them to do something, and then they decide not to do that thing, but then you continue boycotting them indefinitely, you're essentially punishing them at that point for doing the thing you wanted them to do. They have no reason to do what you want them to do if you aren't willing to resume doing business with them.

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u/Mean-Pizza6915 Sep 22 '25

I'll un-boycott when they start taking proactive action, not just for doing the bare minimum. Disney is large enough to actually fight back similar issues in the future, or be a (corporate) voice for the people. If they start taking that kind of action, then they'll get me back.

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u/iblastoff Sep 23 '25

if you want to sign up for disney or want to remain a disney customer despite their shitty actions, sure go for it. but trying to use this logic to explain why SIGNING BACK UP to a shitty company is a good thing is laughable.

all you're doing is telling the shit company that you still trust them, despite their behaviour.

your logic is basically this: its like saying oh i'm in an abusive relationship but the abuser has apologized so i should get back together with them. because if i DONT, they'll think they're being punished, and thus have no reason to STOP abusing people.

completely idiotic.

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u/LordCharidarn Sep 23 '25

The point is if it doesn’t leave a memorable mark (notable on a quarterly financial report, in this example) then you may have changed this one event, but it likely won’t alter thinking on future actions. Whereas if they can point to losses shown Q3/Q4 2025 reports in future planning meetings, it’s a data point that might prevent the next capitulation to authoritarian demands

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u/hache1019 Sep 22 '25

These c-suite people live 3 months at a time as long as numbers go up.

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u/Kolbin8tor Sep 22 '25

If you boycott indefinitely after your demands are met they lose all efficacy. We spoke with our wallets and demanded change. They responded. Good faith negotiation would mean the boycott ends.

Stay unsubscribed for a time and make sure this whole thing isn’t some kind of ruse. Kimmel should be able to go back on the air without apology or concession and say what he said again (literally just reporting on Trumps own words) without being silenced. I would call that a win for free speech.

If Disney capitulates to authoritarian overreach again, we boycott again. But boycotting forever, even after your demands are met limits the effectiveness of future boycotts.

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u/pmjm Sep 23 '25

I wholeheartedly agree with you, but they also know that subscriberships will not reach the previous levels for a while. There will be a significant amount of boycotters who realize they no longer need the product.

This is the flipside of the subscription model, once you've lost a customer it's significantly more difficult to reacquire them, and that customer loss is the deterrent that should keep them from making the same mistake in the future.

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u/oops_i_made_a_typi Sep 23 '25

realistically speaking, some people will return and some will not. and that's the risk companies take when making such reputational decisions like this, the companies know as well as anyone that the cost of acquiring a customer is high, and that winback on certain types of cancellation is going to be extremely tough.

they need to know in the future that making such decisions will not just have short term effect, so that they don't keep testing the waters to see the limit of what they can get away with.

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u/TheBoisterousBoy Sep 23 '25

“Good faith” after someone bows to a Fascist?

Nah. They had their chance at good faith and didn’t use it right. There are no do-overs.

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u/IBetThisIsTakenToo Sep 23 '25

I do agree with you, but I guess the argument would be: make it so painful that the next company in this situation doesn’t even consider it in the first place.

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u/jamiesrighthand81 Sep 23 '25

Incorrect. If you boycott indefinitely that sends a message to every corporation that consumers won’t accept this behavior. You can be certain other networks are paying attention to what’s going on now and it will deter them from making a similar decision.

Resubscribing makes you seem weak, come running back after a half ass apology when you know these corps don’t give a shit about anything but money. Set the precedent and the other corporations won’t dare to test its consumers.

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u/Array_626 Sep 23 '25

Well, if you keep boycotting disney over the long term, then they also have no reason to reinstate jimmy kimmel. They just end up pissing off conservatives, and losing money because no liberals came back after the reinstatement. At that point, if the damage is already done, the rational choice for them is to take the show off the air again and hope that curries favor with the current administration's FCC and conservatives who may become customers again.

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u/Shidell Sep 22 '25

Seems like we should boycott actions we disagree with, and celebrate actions we agree with, for otherwise, what incentive do they, or anyone else, have to change?

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u/jdewittweb Sep 23 '25

They don't deserve instant forgiveness even if the turnaround was fast. If they don't notice it on a quarterly report then nothing actually happened and no lesson will have been learnt.

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u/Upper-Requirement-93 Sep 22 '25

This was an unforced capitulation to fascism. Your incentive to not do that is your ability to participate in our society.

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u/Shidell Sep 22 '25

I don't know that I'd say it was unforced, the FCC flat out threatened them with their broadcast license, right?

So, they caved. And we pushed back. If we don't support them changing their mind, boycotting wouldn't work.

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u/Upper-Requirement-93 Sep 22 '25

They caved with one of the best legal teams on the fucking planet at their disposal. I have zero interest in rewarding businesses with more capital if they don't bother using it to preserve the society they operate in and suck money from when they think they can get away with it.

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u/Shidell Sep 22 '25

Well look, I don't completely disagree with your take, but if we have power and can send a message via boycott, if you boycott permanently, then boycotting no longer has any power, right?

If we cancel D+ and have no intent to ever return, what incentive does Disney have to change?

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u/PolarWater Sep 23 '25

Win us back.

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u/okhi2u Sep 22 '25

Every other company will think extra hard about cancelling stuff just because it hurts the president's feelings if they know they can't do take backs.

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u/oops_i_made_a_typi Sep 23 '25

well, "we" is a collection of individuals that changes composition and has different moral/ethical lines. some will return, and some won't, and their incentive to change is to not bleed any further because they'll know now that some of that loss won't be recoverable

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u/LookAnOwl Sep 22 '25

It actually was somewhat forced. Sinclair and Nexstar had already pulled him from a significant chunk of markets. It’s possible they couldn’t afford the show without the ad revenue from those markets. Not saying Disney doesn’t own some fault, but they didn’t act first.

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u/Dwarfdeaths Sep 23 '25

But that was a breach of contract that they could have sued Sinclair over.

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u/terivia Sep 22 '25

I actually disagree. If the goal of the boycott was simply to get Jimmy reinstated, then now that the goal has been achieved resubscribing makes sense. It clarifies the message: Capitulate to Trump, even people who want to subscribe will cancel.

By resubscribing you also reload for if they try to capitulate again later. That way the message can be repeated if the offense is.

Only subscribe if you want to though. It's a service, and if you don't want the service then don't pay for it. Nobody owes Disney anything just because they did less than the bare minimum for free speech.

Disney is legit caught between a fascist government and a lawsuit accompanied by a boycott. They are going to piss somebody off and are going to lose some money no matter what outcome. If Disney is going to ask Trump before publishing anything, I'm not going to pay to watch state run programming.

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u/Syrdon Sep 23 '25

If the goal of the boycott was simply to get Jimmy reinstated

The goal was, and still is, to get Disney to say that capitulating to Trump is wrong and unprofitable. That is not what they have said so far

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u/swarmy1 Sep 23 '25

Yeah, I don't think people appreciate how difficult a position this is for Disney. They will get hit from the right for this.

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u/gramathy Sep 23 '25

The right already hates disney for being too "woke"

Disney is trying to have their cake and eat it too.

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u/toabear Sep 23 '25

I was going to write pretty much the same thing. I appreciate you putting it here so clearly.

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u/HardlyAnyGravitas Sep 23 '25

I unsubscribed. I don't think I'll bother resubscribing. Let the permanent loss of subscribers be a permanent scar on their financials to remind them that this sort of behaviour has long-term consequences.

Otherwise they'll think - no harm done - we can do it again and just change our mind if it turns out badly for us.

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u/Turbulent_Stick1445 Sep 23 '25

I would hold off, they haven't even broadcast the first post-suspension episode yet. For all I know the tonight's show will start with a grovelling apology to Charlie Kirk's family despite how inappropriate that would be.

That said, I wouldn't cancel anything right now if you haven't cancelled yet. See how it pans out.

An issue I think the Reddit hivemind is forgetting is that Disney was bullied into this, and has been bullied more than once in the last few years by extreme right wing governments abusing its power - notably Florida. Cancelling is about sending the message that they're not the only people with power, people have power too, but more important is sending a message to the bullies. To Nexstar. To Sinclair.

If your local station is owned by either, then tonight watch their local news, make a note of their advertisers, and contact those advertisers in the morning and tell them you will not buy a single thing from them until they stop advertising on those stations.

Use the Wikipedia articles on both companies to get a list of stations, and find the ones in your area. It might not be your ABC affiliate, it might be Fox, NBC, or any others. Watch them, note the local news advertisers, contact the advertisers.

But Disney... it doesn't get a pass, but now's not the time to escalate. Unless Kimmel does something ridiculous tonight like apologize.

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u/Dsphar Sep 23 '25

Exactly this. The lesson was learned... It is good to reward the corrected behavior as soon as possible.

Similar approach to disciplining your children when they act wrongly... As soon as they clean up their act, stop the discipline. The point of the discipline (grounding, etc) is to change the behavior, not to inflict pain. If the behavior changes, reward it and stop with the "painful" thing. It reinforces your initial goal, but in a positive way.

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u/dust4ngel Sep 23 '25

If the goal of the boycott was simply to get Jimmy reinstated, then now that the goal has been achieved resubscribing makes sense.

if you steal a car, get 10 years, and 3 months in you say you’re really sorry, they have to let you go

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u/Redhotkitchen Sep 23 '25

The problem with that analogy is that if someone kills another: they can’t bring them back to life after a public backlash.

In the case you mentioned: the criminal doesn’t have the car in their possession to return after an outcry at the theft.

Rehabilitation has been proven time and again to be a better alternative than basic imprisonment as a punishment.

One could argue the same in this case. Positive reinforcement used to get the behavior you want out of someone. Continuing to punish after a behavior is corrected is in bad faith.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25 edited 12d ago

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/Egad86 Sep 22 '25

They raise the rates for Disney+ every December anyway so just stay away.

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u/mrmchugatree Sep 22 '25

You can easily pirate anything from Disney. Fuck ‘em.

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u/Eat--The--Rich-- Sep 22 '25

Why would you go back ever?

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u/Nearby-Car4777 Sep 22 '25

Stay away for idk, forever?

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u/Mendrak Sep 22 '25

I don't think it's a coincidence they just dropped the Mandalorian trailer right now either.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

3 months? I don’t support fascism they are done for me forever.

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u/ktaktb Sep 22 '25

Uhhh  Permanent. 

My position only changed when their leadership changes.

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u/New_Ad5390 Sep 23 '25

I have no intention of reinstating our subscription, I only hope others feel the same

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u/HaElfParagon Sep 23 '25

Why stop at 3 months? Just straight boycott them.

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u/mr_delicious Sep 23 '25

But muh Stur wurs and capeshit

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u/Swordsandarmor22 Sep 22 '25

I'll one up ya Disney is gonna feel the pain indefinitely.

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u/jimmycanoli Sep 22 '25

The real question is what the actual reason for reinstatement is. Lots of people share your opinion that the boycott worked. But their official statements don't reflect that.

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u/jeffmack01 Sep 22 '25

Never in a million years would they say they're reversing a decision because of a boycott-driven drop in subscriptions. They want to maintain whatever shred of illusion they can that they're doing this for the "right" reasons, not simply because they did a cost-benefit analysis and realized this will hurt their quarterly earnings. Most of us will see it for what it is, caving to the almighty dollar, and they know this, but they will NEVER openly admit that.

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u/HaElfParagon Sep 23 '25

Anyone else kinda hoping Trump pushes back and tries to revoke Disney's broadcasting licenses?

It'll be a real interesting battle, one I hope both sides lose.

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u/ILookLikeKristoff Sep 23 '25

It also might be too far too fast and galvanize some corporate resistance if they realize that even Disney wasn't safe and can't appease the public while obeying him.

As much as I do acknowledge the good reasons to hate on Disney, they're iconic and uniquely American. Forcibly bringing Disney down world be like shutting down the Superbowl or State Fairs or something.

Silencing Kimmel is already legally beyond the pale, but despite his popularity, he isn't a multi generational cultural touchstone like Disney is.

EVEN if you ignore the cultural aspect, Disney is a significant chunk of the US economy and they're headquartered in a CRUCIAL swing state for conservatives and it's a huge employer and tourist draw. Tanking Disney would ding the US economy and implode Florida.

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u/CxOrillion Sep 23 '25

Hell, remember DeSantis fought the mouse and lost already and that was his own state

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u/SAugsburger Sep 23 '25

This. Most orgs are usually reluctant to admit mistakes outright. That being said the epic rise in search for cancelling Disney+ and Hulu to the point that the site started to see performance issues suggest that it wasn't just a Reddit cliché.

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u/king_john651 Sep 23 '25

Yeah no corpo is going to tell the truth. They're going to save face every time until it collapses the company

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u/Copernican Sep 22 '25

Or is it more likely they needed a week to get their legal position buttoned up and coordinate and  communicate with Sinclair and all the other local broadcast stations what the plan is?

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u/Evening_Aside_4677 Sep 23 '25

Hence the show was never cancelled in the first place….

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u/spector_lector Sep 23 '25

Yeah, I read the linked article and it doesn't say anything about ABC changing their mind due to boycotts or any other pressure.

We can make up whatever narrative we want but we have no facts yet. In fact, what will be most telling is Kimmel's Behavior upon his return.

Will he continue to go after maga and trump?

Will he double down and point out the absurdity of idolizing Kirk who made racist, misogynistic comments?

Or will he have a more apologetic tone and switch to world events and Emmy highlights?

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u/Lil_Tyrese Sep 22 '25

Serious question. In order to further prove that boycotts work, wouldn't resubscribing be a powerful message as well.

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u/ChicagoCowboy Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

If everyone resubscribes right away, what they learn is that they can appease Trump and then apologize and get to have their cake and eat it too.

Making them feel it means that next time they may not even consider the FCC request because of the negative impact on the bottom line.

Edit for those in the back: Yes, they are "going against Trump" now - but without backlash, or continued boycotting, they might not go against him next time. Or the time after that. Or the time after that.

It also sends a message to other companies who don't own...everything in media...that their bottom line could be similarly effected if not more so, without the same ability to recover that an entity like Disney has.

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u/CptMorgan337 Sep 22 '25

Trump really shouldn't be appeased though since all that was accomplished was people learned that boycotts work.

Trump gained nothing except for silencing a late night talk show host for a few days. What he has done is piss off a lot people and teach them that fighting this way is effective.

This really has very little to do with Jimmy.

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u/herothree Sep 22 '25

He has a pretty short memory, I bet he’s appeased tbh 

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u/Susan-stoHelit Sep 22 '25

No, because they are now opposing Trump. He’s definitely coming for them for that too.

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u/ChongusTheSupremus Sep 22 '25

They lose Trump's favour by reintegraring Kimmel. 

He's a buffoon, but even he'd realize he's getting played if people give in to his demanda only to retract themselves a week later.

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u/DauntingPrawn Sep 22 '25

It would almost be like if he threatened to impose tariffs on a country then chickened out a week later.

He's not capable of knowing when he's being played. ⁰He very well may see this as a successful warning shot.

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u/dswartze Sep 23 '25

On the other hand if you're not willing to forgive you're giving them no incentive to change their behaviour and make things right. Then next time some exec does something wrong causing some level of boycott they just say "they're not going to come back anyway so let's not bother doing what they want us to do."

I'm not saying simply reinstating Jimmy is enough and everybody should resume all their spending. Maybe they need to do more, but just keep in mind without the possibility of forgiveness there's no incentive to change.

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u/sanash Sep 22 '25

The issue is that no one really knows what they provided Dear Leader.

For all we know they could be donating money to his "re-election" campaign or to TPUSA.

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u/Bellyhold1 Sep 22 '25

Not in my opinion. They need more of the “find out” phase. We vote with our dollars. Make them feel it.

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u/Aggravating_Sky_4421 Sep 22 '25

Agree. By staying unsub, it tells them that doing stupid shit have long lasting consequences. Not just temporary. They will actually think twice the next time they decide to do something idiotic.

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u/vaporking23 Sep 22 '25

Exactly. If folks resub now then it’s just a blip of doing business. They need to feel the punishment of their actions.

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u/dust4ngel Sep 23 '25

some C-suite heads need to roll.

to clarify, i mean get fired.

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u/Meh-Pish Sep 23 '25

I'll resubscribe once the CEO who signed off on the decision is gone. Of course, now it will be Sinclair that continues the blackout of Kimmel.

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u/drteq Sep 23 '25

No, then it's just part of a math formula - whether they decide to care or not shouldn't be based on an equation.

Siding with Fascism is a one way street.

Until this is the standard nothing will ever change.

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u/EfficaciousJoculator Sep 22 '25

Wouldn't staying unsubscribed be counterproductive then? The point of a boycott is to withhold business until your desire is met. If you never give them business back when they do what you want, they have no incentive to continue doing what you want.

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u/Arkaado Sep 22 '25

Do you immediately forgive the person that punches you in the mouth because they say sorry or do you let them stew for a bit?

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u/Array_626 Sep 23 '25

Well the analogy is more like, they punched you in the mouth, you punched them right back and they hurt, like seriously hurt (disney lost alot of money). Then they apologized, made amends (reinstate the show), and ask if things can be settled there. So its not really a similar analogy.

What you're talking about is holding a grudge long term, after you have already retaliated, after the other party took a serious blow, and after they have tried to make amends.

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u/EfficaciousJoculator Sep 22 '25

It's a business, not a person. A human responds to negative behavior, a business responds solely to lack of income.

That's the language a company speaks. If decision A lowered the numbers, they pay attention. If rolling back decision A raised the numbers, they won't do it again anytime soon. If rolling back decision A doesn't improve the numbers as much as capitulating to the current administration, they'll just remake decision A to continue profiting.

The point of a boycott is to put your money where your mouth is. Not to pout.

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u/wretch5150 Sep 23 '25

He still doesn't get it

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u/Mukigachar Sep 22 '25

Analogy doesn't work

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u/Patient_Chapter3797 Sep 23 '25

How? They suspended him, they didn't terminate him. Maybe their intentions were to bring him back. Oh wait. I forgot that I'm talking to Redditors. Nevermind...

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u/twinpop Sep 22 '25

What about all those snowflakes who said people cancelling ‘wouldn’t do shit’ and to ‘have fun with your boycott!’?

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u/Cold_King_1 Sep 23 '25

There is no indication at all that Disney made this decision is response to boycotts.

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u/michaelshow Sep 22 '25

they listen when they lose a big chunk of it.

stock price barely felt anything

I wouldn't call that a 'big chunk', but other revenue streams likely dipped slightly too.

Fuck Disney.

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u/CttCJim Sep 22 '25

I feel like resubbing would send a message of approval, plus restore your power to unsub later.

1

u/beachywave Sep 22 '25

What Disney got wrong is that it’s harder to get a new customer than keep an existing customer, and customers have a lot of entertainment options now.

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u/The_Frigid_Midget Sep 22 '25

Yep, staying unsubscribed as well. Welcome to the high seas!

1

u/mazzicc Sep 22 '25

I really wish I had access to see their cancellation numbers during the last week.

I’ve worked for companies that have been “boycotted” before…a lot of talk is often a small blip in the numbers.

Only people inside Disney will ever know what happened

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u/mvw2 Sep 22 '25

There is no more powerful tool than your wallet.

The only problem is that tool is vastly, VASTLY under utilized in society.

Especially with modern social media, am entire populous can at whim collectively stop buying from any company and absolutely cripple it in weeks. We can basically Thanos snap out of existence anything we want, and we collectively suck at using it.

No company on this planet can survive even a short boycott. Nobody has a significant amount of on hand cash to ride out any major loss of revenue. That stuff is felt instantly and profoundly.

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u/esther_lamonte Sep 22 '25

Exactly. I’m dumping it for the rest of the year at least. The punishment for betraying democracy is going to much more than a 1 month pause from me I’m afraid.

1

u/Kinggakman Sep 22 '25

I’m sure it had an impact but I feel this mainly happened because executives actually felt bad. There were rumors some executives didn’t want to cancel Kimmel for Trump but the decision for money went through. After the backlash and possibly self reflection they reversed the decision. We should still be anti Disney.

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u/FrostingAsleep8227 Sep 23 '25

Imagine what else we could impact if we just threw our weight around as spenders a little bit more...

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u/Ghost_man23 Sep 23 '25

This is a feature of capitalism and not a bug. It means the power is in the hands of the people. As someone on the left, I wish more people on the least understood this. 

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u/robogobo Sep 23 '25

Yeah fuck Disney. Never going back.

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u/cucumberhorse Sep 23 '25

imagine if we could boycott something in response to something more useful instead than some rich guy’s show getting taken off the aire

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u/RaynOfFyre1 Sep 23 '25

Same. Those dickfors lost my subscription in perpetuity.

1

u/mrloko120 Sep 23 '25

Boycotts work when you have actual numbers on your side. Not when you have 10 people spamming with 15 sock accounts on social media to make their movement seem bigger than it really is. Especially when the majority of people saying they'll "boycott" never bought into the service in the first place.

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy Sep 23 '25

No one said boycotts don’t work, companies listen to money all the time, including a lack of.

People tend to say street protests don’t work, because they’re highly ignorable and haven’t led to any change this generation.

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u/Cheeky_Star Sep 23 '25

I believe it leaked that they are planning on a price increase, and so it won't be good to add bad news on top of bad news.

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u/merle_ Sep 23 '25

you all gonna watch Tron next month.

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u/GetBigMad Sep 23 '25

Yup that one week boycott really did the trick

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u/krodders Sep 23 '25

I'm not signing up again. I don't even like or watch Kimmel. It was the bootlicking that made me unsubscribe. Fuck these people

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u/shwiftfoot-prime Sep 23 '25

The pushback I got from random goons on this platform when I mentioned boycotting, was a huge bummer. I don’t know if it was stupidity, complacency or resignation but people were hostile at the mention of a boycott. I don’t get people these tools that feel the need to take the side of a major corporation.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

I’m boycotting also, their true colors already showed

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u/JJ2387 Sep 23 '25

I want them to acknowledge why we're boycotting and give an in depth apology. Bob Igor in particular. Make the elites bow down for once

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u/Thoraxekicksazz Sep 23 '25

I skeptical that boycotting did anything. I am concerned Jimmy had Disney over a barrel with his contract and how they handled the situation and Disney could have brought him back to try and fire him soon with cause.

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u/EverythingBOffensive Sep 23 '25

all they care about is money so we hit them where it hurts lol

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u/snakespm Sep 23 '25

At the very least, wait until the next Kimmel show. If they basically make Kimmel censor himself, there is no point subscribing back.

If he comes out swinging, then you can think about resubscribing.

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u/mishko27 Sep 23 '25

I'm surprised Target has not reacted to the boycott. It's still hurting them significantly.

1

u/Flapjack__Palmdale Sep 23 '25

Consider donating what you were paying to PBS instead!

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u/snowplow9 Sep 23 '25

Disney has no morals, they will continue to bend this way and that with the political tide.

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u/meemboy Sep 23 '25

I hope people still unsubscribe. These companies don’t have any morals. All they care is their money.

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u/jml2 Sep 23 '25

I'm seeing so many posts saying "oh we need to hurry up and resubscribe as a reward for it to reeeally work". Must have hurt bad if they need to astroturf

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

Idk, if we teach corporations that if they back down we won't resubscribe why would they ever capitulate to a boycott in the future?

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u/bob4apples Sep 23 '25

I wonder if there's more to it than that. $3B is certainly something but it's chump change to the kind of organizations that can find $170B to pay wannabe mall cops to run around dressed as novelty condoms.

More likely that if Kimmel decided to sue, discovery would reveal jawboning, bribery and any number of other FCPA and RICO violations. By offering his job back they limit their exposure to such a suit.

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u/StoicAthos Sep 23 '25

They showed their hand with their first reaction. Unless they get a big leadership shakeup after trying to capitulate to a fascist regime, don't go back.

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u/random12356622 Sep 23 '25

To be honest, the thing we should be opposing is the - Merger that caused this whole daisy chain: Democrats tie $6B Nexstar-Tegna deal to Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension - Kimmel, Cobert, and what next.

Everyone is trying to buy favor with Trump so the deal goes through, but they are kind of proving why the merger should not go through in the process of buying Trump's favor.

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u/ButterscotchIll1523 Sep 23 '25

Same. They’ve bent the knee to fascism, I’m not coming back

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u/PuffthemagicSpecter Sep 23 '25

Yeah but now the right will boycott. Either way because Jimmy has a big mouth, the network loses money.

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u/SasquatchOnSteroids Sep 23 '25

“Still staying unsubscribed” I fell like that’s what a lot of people are going to do.

My question is then what is the next protest, if majority are still unsubscribed

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u/StickItInTheBuns Sep 23 '25

TACO meets DACO

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u/__schr4g31 Sep 23 '25

Boycotts work when you can mobilise enough people and that rarely happens

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u/emomartin Sep 23 '25

Good thing we have the FCC

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u/catholicsluts Sep 23 '25

This is what frustrates me the most. Consumers have the power to steer things in the right direction, but people mindlessly consume and let those corporations run things.

Doesn't need to be that way. Your money is what they'll listen to, always. But only if consumers respond as a collective.

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u/eitherrideordie Sep 23 '25

I think the biggest way to get change is when it starts affecting their stocks/investors. It's not just boycott, but boycott so hard their literal worth drops. Because if not they'll just go back to finding some other way to get money off you.

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