Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC after a weeklong suspension, but the lawyer who beat Donald Trump in sexual abuse and defamation cases wants the Walt Disney Company to come clean with its shareholders about how it all went down – or else.
“There is a credible basis to suspect that the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests of the Company and its stockholders,” says a letter delivered to Bob Iger today from Roberta Kaplan and other lawyers for the American Federation of Teachers, mega-union the AFL-CIO and Reporters Without Borders.
“The Company’s response to the books and records demands set forth below will allow AFT and RWB to assess the ability of the Board to impartially consider a demand for action, including a request for permission to file a derivative lawsuit on Disney’s behalf in the event that members of the Board or Disney executives did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties,” the attorneys for the House of Mouse shareholders add.
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Connecting all the red string on possible root causes of Kimmel’s benching on an alliance of MAGA strong-arming, a FCC chair eager to hand the boss a scalp, some big-ticket small-screen mergers in the making and more, Kaplan and crew both praise the return of Kimmel to the air and make no secret of their suspicions — nor the cash money backlash.
“Disney’s stock suffered significant declines in response to the Company’s abrupt decision to suspend Mr. Kimmel and his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which appeared to be in response to threats from the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (‘FCC‘), Brendan Carr, and ABC affiliates (notably, those owned and operated by Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (‘Nexstar’) and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (‘Sinclair’), who refused to air the show,” the four-page letter co-signed by the DC-based Democracy Defenders Fund states.
To be very specific, those aforementioned “significant declines” in Disney’s stock last week equal a $4 billion loss to the company’s value. While a single-digit decline in real terms, a $4 billion loss is neither chump nor Trump change for any shareholders.
With some mild legalese and with a deadline of five business days, the letter also states: “Should Disney fail to comply with its obligations, whether by refusing to timely respond or refusing this Demand in whole or in part, AFT and RWB reserve their rights to initiate an action compelling such production and to pursue all available remedies. You are obligated to take all necessary steps to preserve any and all documents and communications relating to the foregoing categories of information. AFT and RWB reserve their rights and waive none.”
Officially, Disney brass Iger and Dana Walden’s September 17 decision to take Live! off the air “indefinitely” supposedly was over what the company later termed “ill-timed” and “insensitive” remarks Kimmel made on his September 15 show about MAGA and Trump’s response to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk days before. In his opening on September 23, Kimmel spoke of what his intentions were in his September 15 comments, the response, the support he’s received and the dangers of censorship and attacks on the First Amendment.
However, despite the insistence of some inside Disney that there was no outside pressure to take Kimmel off the air or put him back on (even with a growing star-studded chorus of dissent), it can’t be ignored that Kimmel was all set to go on air on September 17. That is until in quick succession Carr started throwing his weight around with possible regulatory brass knuckles against the home of Mickey and Pluto, and Nexatar, which owns 32 ABC affiliate stations and is looking to seal federal approval on a multibillion-dollar merger with Tegna, announced they were taking Live! off the air.
Just sayin’.
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Disney did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on today’s letter.
On the other hand, Kaplan had more to say outside of the letter.
“A bedrock of the United States and the key to our survival as the world’s oldest democracy is freedom of speech,” the Kaplan Martin founder and counsel for AFT and RSF told Deadline today. “The government cannot and should not threaten to punish someone simply because it does not like what they have to say. And while large media companies have been at the front lines, they too should not succumb to unconstitutional threats or blackmail. ABC was the network to run the series Schoolhouse Rock more than 50 years ago. Its leadership should pay attention to the important lessons it taught, particularly in the episodes ‘The Preamble’ and ‘No More Kings.’”
Back on TV and still not being broadcast on Sinclair and Nexstar-owned stations, Kimmel is back again tonight, No stranger to speaking his mind and morals, as the past week and several years have made obvious, doubtful Kimmel will be saying anything about the letter and its demands.
Semafor was first to report on the shareholder letter Wednesday.
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