After Charlie Kirk was assassinated, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel made some comments that were not only insensitive but also just flat-out wrong, resulting in his show's suspension.
ABC was applauded for the move, but it would appear that the move will be short-lived.
It was just announced that Kimmel will be back on TV on Tuesday night, which is a development that could have a massive butterfly effect.
ABC is in the middle of negotiating a massive deal with the NFL that could be worth as much as $3 billion for the network.
ESPN, which is under the Disney umbrella along with ABC, reportedly made a deal, trading 10% equity for the NFL Network, RedZone, and fantasy football assets.
That deal would need approval from federal agencies, and with Kimmel returning to the air, the question is whether Donald Trump will pressure authorities to reject the deal so that ABC has little choice but to oust Kimmel.
Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration, stated, “Given his interest in the NFL, and his history of using media mergers for leverage, it’s hard to see him not playing around with this. I doubt this will be a straightforward commercial transaction.”
Since Kimmel was suspended, seemingly all of Hollywood has come out to support him, and this would include some major stars telling fans to boycott the Disney+ package.
It apparently worked, as I have seen an endless stream of posts on social media showing proof of cancelled accounts.
I even saw a report that the website used to process cancellations had crashed, but I could not verify it. But it was on the internet, so it has to be true, right?
The bottom line here is that money talks, and even if the network brings Kimmel back, what are the chances of all those canceled accounts coming back online? But on the other hand, those subscriptions surely are not equal to the value of the deal with the NFL.
It was announced on Monday that Kimmel's show would return on Tuesday, with Disney explaining that it had halted production of the show last week “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” adding that Kimmel’s comments were “ill-timed and thus insensitive.”
There has been no announcement in terms of the content guidelines that may govern the show, but I cannot imagine Kimmel coming back if they put a muzzle on him.
Trump's base and his administration have been gloating about Kimmel's suspension since it happened, so this is going to have them dealing with some serious egg on their faces, because you know that Kimmel will return the favor once he gets back on the air.
Now, the only question is whether Trump and the FCC will put pressure on other federal agencies weighing the merits of the ABC's proposed deal in order to force Kimmel out once and for all. If Trump does that, I think it will be a move that will haunt him, and it will be one more thing added to the list of items for which Dems will try to impeach him if they take back the House. Is Trump capable of sitting on his hands and taking one on the chin? I think we all know the answer to that.
