Disney Entertainment co-chairwoman Dana Walden offers her own account of what happened behind the scenes when Jimmy Kimmel live! was briefly suspended in September, including the fact that the White House never contacted Disney during the hiatus.
In an interview in The Bloomberg TV circuitWalden said there was no contact from former President Donald Trump or his administration, despite Trump publicly stating that the late-night show had been “cancelled.” “We didn’t hear anything from them,” he said.
Walden explained that the decision to pull the September 17 episode was due to the growing backlash following comments Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk’s murder. Two major affiliate groups threatened to abandon the program, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he would investigate ABC’s station licenses.
“We didn’t think that was possible that night,” Walden said. “So we paused to talk to Jimmy. We wanted to resolve the situation in a certain way to protect our employees and think about our audience.”
He also rejected reports of mass cancellations of Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions during the suspension, calling them “greatly exaggerated.”
Walden also addressed broader industry issues, including how Disney approaches artificial intelligence. He said the company is exploring AI to be “faster [and] more efficient,” while emphasizing that Disney is working “together with the actors, the writers, the directors… to protect taxpayers in that process.”
And he added: “The magic of Disney is telling stories. It doesn’t have to be just one way.”
Regarding speculation about Bob Iger’s eventual successor, Walden avoided participating. “I don’t like having to confront my colleagues,” he said. “We are a very close-knit organization… I have enormous faith in the direction of this company.”
