Bob Iger Defends Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger has explained the company’s choice to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after remarks he made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Iger stated that Disney found Kimmel’s comments to be in “bad taste.”
In an interview with the Financial Times, Iger clarified that the suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was not aimed at appeasing the Trump administration, but was a response to Kimmel’s comments from September about Kirk’s alleged assassin. Iger emphasized, “That never happened. We thought it was in bad taste.”
He revealed that Kimmel had been encouraged to apologize, expressing, “I just wanted him to acknowledge that the comment was ill-timed and probably inappropriate.”
Kimmel had hinted that Tyler Robinson, the person accused of assassinating Kirk, might belong to a “MAGA gang.” He remarked, “The weekend hit a new low as the MAGA gang tried desperately to characterize this boy who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and do everything they could to score political points from it.”
Kimmel faced an indefinite suspension from September 17, 2025, to September 22, 2025, due to these comments.
In a later interview with Bloomberg, Kimmel defended his remarks, claiming there wasn’t a significant issue. He suggested that right-wing media distorted his words and he felt the need to clarify that. He admitted he recognized the gravity of his comments only after the show was pulled, saying, “I can be reactive, I can be aggressive, I can be obnoxious. I think having those days to think about that really helped.”
Kimmel also expressed that he believed his comments had been misunderstood. “I didn’t have that ‘feel’, it really didn’t,” he noted, indicating he felt the reaction was unjust. “I think what happened over the last three weeks or so was very unfair to the bosses at Disney,” he added, stressing that nobody should face such scrutiny.
He concluded with hope that this incident would lead to a more defined standard of what should be acceptable in discourse.
