And now the shareholders are revolting (no, not in that sense):
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.
Roberta Kaplan (who, as noted, represented E Jean Carroll against DJT twice) certainly knows that the way to a mogul’s attention is through his* pocketbook.
In this particular case it really doesn’t matter what Kimmel believes about how he was treated. I don’t think the lawsuit will go very far. One could certainly argue Disney was doing what they thought was in the best interest of their shareholders. i.e. They were acting properly in their capacity as a fiduciary.
There were news reports (with photos) of Kimmel at his lawyer’s office before his show was reinstated. Kimmel may think Disney/ABC treated him fairly at the end, but he probably brought pressure of his own.
I’ve mentioned that The Spousal Unit used to become exasperated by my political rants, and that now she’s attending freeway overpass banner-and-flag displays. She went from ‘Don’t worry, Old men die,’ to a bit of an activist. Anyway, I showed her the Robert De Niro as FCC Chairman bit from Jimmy Kimmel’s post-suspension come-back. She laughed several times.
No, the Fat Orange Monster has very, very thin skin under all that orange fur. No way he can tolerate a few late night comics mocking him. He MUST destroy all of them.
Indeed. Way back up in post 75 I detailed historical precedents where the Nazis and the Iranian Shah’s government specifically went after comic entertainers as a priority. Yes, it’s important to control the objective news media to manage the factual message. But it’s as important — literally just as important — to ensure nobody is popping the balloon of the dictator’s perceived omnipotence by laughing at him, ever.
I’m not saying DJT or Carr have given up on their attempts to censor the media but with Sinclair returning Kimmel’s show to their stations it looks like they are losing for now.
I caught a bit of this story on CNN earlier today. I was happy to hear that Sinclair had folded (to borrow your word), and I think that Nexstar will too. No idea when, but I’m sure they will.
Think of the pressure they’re under from their affiliates. No viewers equals no revenue, so the affiliates are losing money. Not that Kimmel was a ratings monster, but he did attract viewers who would rather watch him than a rerun of “Celebrity Family Feud.” Now, the affiliates are attracting few to no viewers in that time slot. Moreover, Kimmel’s audience has learned that they can catch Kimmel on YouTube anyway, so there’s no need to watch him on broadcast TV. His message is still getting out there, just not from the affiliates, who have sold advertising time in his slot.
Like I said, I don’t know when Nexstar will fold, but I agree with you that they will.
Worse than that, Sinclair was running a 90-minute version of National News Desk, a conservative oriented show for their affiliates who didn’t have a late local newscast. Worse than Celebrity Family Feud, it was filler programming that appealed to the exact opposite audience as Kimmel.
