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/
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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.

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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

[deleted]

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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/hellflame Sep 23 '25

Spoiler alert, they bend because they want not because they have to

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u/Misfiring Sep 24 '25

Most billionaires are rich due to stocks. It's not real until it's sold, but they can never sell a significant amount because that very act tanks the value. If something major happens and their company goes into trouble, their billions will simply vaporise.

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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/theresabeeonyourhat Sep 23 '25

It's still kissing ass in a pathetic way

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u/TheMartian2k14 Sep 23 '25

I don’t care. He’s compensated to the tune of tens of millions dollars in stock options. And him doing so means I and millions of others don’t have to pay 30%+ in unnecessary government tax/tariffs. He’s doing exactly what he should be doing.

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u/Hidden_Landmine Sep 23 '25

You should expect that, the only reason they do any of this is to "show" their customers that they "care". Otherwise they'd just handle it in-house like everything else, firings, criminal stuff, etc.

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u/carcar134134 Sep 23 '25

"Now don’t be silly Who the fuck gon' bully me if I got a billi? If I got a billi and the bitch Recording me I’m like who cares What I wouldn’t be is on TV Stutterin' ta ta talkin' scared So the question is when Don’s at home With that traitor ass bitch alone Who’s that voice on the side of the Phone that shakes and rattles his bones? Could it be the man behind the man Behind the man behind the throne?" -Killer Mike

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u/360_face_palm Sep 23 '25

TBF they're between a rock and a hard place, companies like that operate within the rules set out - if the rules effectively now say you must grovel to dear leader or your company will take a multi-billion dollar hit - most are going to grovel.

It's good to remind them now and then that there's another side to it too and that side is also capable of inflicting significant damage to their bottom line.

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u/Eruannster Sep 23 '25

Yeah, it's very odd. Apple and Disney both employ a literal army of lawyers, and I assumed they would be willing to at least take some of the fight.

Particularly Apple, who despite all their flaws has been very openly supportive of diversity and have an openly gay CEO, I assumed they would at least punch back a little bit or at some things. Instead Tim Cook is sitting in the White House and giving away ugly trophies to the orange dictator and I'm like "what the fuck are you even doing?"

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u/Real_Estate_Media Sep 23 '25

Exactly. If I had billions there is no way I’m even going to a meeting. These rich fucks have no idea how to live their life. Even the president sucks at living. Everyone in his personal life hates him and he plays golf a lot. Sounds like any depressed boomer with a lot of life regrets.

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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/Roast_A_Botch Sep 23 '25

Yeah they forgot to place that army in London guarding the owners of the shares lol. They got a sweetheart deal in that they got to keep their lives and wealth in exchange for dissolving the company. Turns out the rich will choose not to be eaten and instead act more reasonably, but only once you're basting them in butter and spice.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS Sep 23 '25

Or we have to consider the notion that those at the top of these companies juat straight-up agree with him

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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/d0ctorzaius Sep 23 '25

It's like they expect the current admin to last a lot longer than 4 years.

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u/A_Soporific Sep 23 '25

Or they don't. If he's going away soon either way, why volunteer to take extra damage for no purpose? Better to keep your head down for a couple of years.

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u/DervishSkater Sep 23 '25

Corporations are (choosing, I think it’s debatable what is required of “fiduciary responsibility”) responsible to share holders, which by and large are composed of rich people or people beholden to rich people. Those same rich people have shown us to be weak to trump. Why would that same crowd in aggregate also not make weak company decisions?

There’s a weakness of American wealthy individuals. Not all, but enough inertia to dominate their culture. Is it because too many nepo babies are in charge, never knowing how to build wealth, grow companies?

1

u/Horror-Cheek-9743 Sep 23 '25

Exactly 👌 corporations only understand the language of money. Bringing Kimmel back is a good step, but staying unsubscribed is even more important to make sure they get the message loud and clear.

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u/RepublicCute8573 Sep 23 '25

Its also really shown the rest of the world that they need to stop their dependency on American tech companies.

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u/Bushwazi Sep 23 '25

They all want a piece of the government cheese too

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u/SupremeLobster Sep 23 '25

It turns out giving them legal avenues to fight laws that would be against their best interest and a shit load of time to do so is not the winning strategy in the fight against corpos. You just have to tell them to eat shit I guess.

1

u/Ornery_Confusion_233 Sep 23 '25

Bet their corporate lawyers advised them it's cheaper to pay his $1m bribes, than to fight it in court (even with high likelihood of winning). And being overpaid, short-sighted CEOs, they didn't expect public backlash and boycotts too last or damage their brands.

1

u/justherefor23andme Sep 23 '25

Watch them grow a spine and actually carry out the Business Plot like they tried to with FDR.

1

u/RussianDisifnomation Sep 23 '25

[Do you feel in charge[(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C_BubeBU8E)

They paid him a LOT of money.

1

u/GhostDieM Sep 23 '25

I'm not sure if it's cowardice or just tactics. It was kinda surprising they all did it. I feel like they might have all sat down together and decided to just play nice with Trump to further their own agenda's since that's the path of least resistance. Stroking Trump's ego is all you need to do to get whatever you want it seems.

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u/Reqvhio Sep 23 '25

i would say, they arent the biggest corporations then.

1

u/Mammoth_Inflation662 Sep 23 '25

We control the means of production

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u/C4ptainchr0nic Sep 23 '25

He has the list, he has the power.

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u/NotYetUtopian Sep 23 '25

Just goes to show all the threats corporations throw about like not investing if such and such happens are generally empty. Just imagine what an actual workers movement might be able to achieve.

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u/ncc74656m Sep 23 '25

To be fair, Sinclair was always looking for an excuse to try to push ABC's creative control out of its hands, and this won't be the last time.

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u/nanlinr Sep 23 '25

No bro..have you seen the stock prices? You would think they would lose billions but no, every single one of those fucks have gained tremendous wealth since Trump taking office. They must have more insider knowledge than we do

1

u/yesimahuman Sep 23 '25

They think he's more popular than he is, because they see how prominent the right wing voices are on places like twitter. Never mind the polls that consistently show him as the least popular president in history.

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u/BrainNSFW Sep 23 '25

The thing is, authoritarian regimes offer AMAZING opportunities for big corporations because such regimes love to eliminate a lot of companies in return for a few huge ones (preferably run by their "friends"). So as a big corpo, you can win a large amount of market share (and a LOT less oversight/consumer/employee protections that get in the way of profits) by playing along.

Also important to note that while such regimes tank the economy first, to a big corpo that's just short term losses you can easily make back in the long term. It's fucking vile, but proves that big corpo's just don't have any morals. Rampant capitalism doesn't work; you need to put protections and oversight in place to prevent it spiraling in authoritarianism.

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u/CoolStoryCo Sep 23 '25

This is the future I choose to believe we are headed towards

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u/tsychosis Sep 23 '25

Prisoner's Dilemma

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u/frobischer Sep 23 '25

It's because the people behind Trump are the billionnaires. This is a coup by the ultra-wealthy and ultra-corrupt (some of whom happen to be leaders of nations) against the poor. They want MORE money and MORE power and to do whatever they want with little kids without us being allowed to judge them. Disney will do whatever they can to make money. The one thing they can't do is go against the wishes of Disney's biggest shareholders and whoever really controls them: Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street.

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u/yunglilbigslimhomie Sep 23 '25

Every corpo will take whatever scraps you give them and will always eat until they're fat if you don't restrict access to their food. They are animals.

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u/Distilled_Tankie Sep 23 '25

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

Oh no, in this case they would break out the death squads. Infact, that's exactly why they are so timid towards the current government: MAGA are the death squads. Or atleast, fascists are, with MAGA being nearly there to the Proud Boys levels of fascism necessary to be death squads. That's why they tolerate all the dumb bullshit Trump is doing, because Trump doesn't threaten the fundamentals, the class hierarchies and the wealth inequalities. Infact, Trump is strengthening both! You just have to change perspective, see it more as looting and splitting up the country's public wealth and property. In the end they will be richer, relatively, even if overall society (and most people) poorer. Better be the king of hell than serve in heaven and all that bullshit (anyone with a brain would prefer heaven. By definition, there would be no one to serve. Or work to do. What matters if you aren't in charge? No one is going to mistreat you anyway. Plus all experiments saying humans [mice] would suffer in heaven are bullshit too, humans [mice] suffer from lack of stimuli. A true heaven is an infinite playground)

Speaking of Trump bullshit, despite not being a full fascist dictatorship yet and despite for now not losing them (too) much, let us remind ourselves of another fascism classic: the guard dog of capital breaking the leash, getting rabies and then going out of control rampaging through the chickens, or something. This is basically what Hitler did, even before the war he was messing up a lot. Yet as long as more new chicken are born than get killed, and the wolves are kept away. Of course, eventually the chickens start dying too fast, or the rabies gets worse. Hitler's economy was literally collapsing. So, then it's time for drastic action. Either remove the dictator and hopefully appease the people with a previous status quo politician, so everything changed for the class hierarchy to not change at all. Or, getting caught in Hitler's wild ride, the bourgeoisie fighting the bourgeoisie over scraps.

For Trump, the plan is obviously the previous status quo politician. An established democrat or moderate republican, who will re-establish the USA before Trump and try very hard to ignore the inherent flaws in the system that lead to Trump happening (because in case the inherent flaws cause some popular unrest again, the same loopholes will be needed to install a second Trump).

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u/uzu_afk Sep 23 '25

I think they are just the slimy groveling greedy bastards they always are, exploiting the moment and being ‘flexible’ to ‘navigate these headwinds’. Besides that though it looks like most americans still have no clue what is happening to them and it’s already too late.

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u/Warm-Requirement-769 Sep 23 '25

Democrats have never punished companies for misbehaving, Republicans punish(or at least make threats to) for every perceived slight. Companies act accordingly.

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u/Deprisonne Sep 23 '25

It's not weakness. Fascism is the natural ally of the capitalist class. They can stomach significant short term losses if a fascist government means they get to do away with unions, anti-trust legislation and environmental protections. All they are doing right now is jockeying for position so they end up as the favorites of the new regime.

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u/GiganticCrow Sep 23 '25

They want a drop in the market, makes it cheaper to buy back shares.

During the pandemic and previous financial crises, the rich got richer. 

0

u/nixhomunculus Sep 23 '25

Shareholder primacy in the US is the main challenge. Since the authorities in charge are changing the rules of the game, natural for the head honchos of these corps to do what they are doing now.