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Saturday, September 20, 2025 |
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Hope you're having a great weekend. This special Saturday edition of Reliable is jam-packed with news. Here's the latest on President Trump, TikTok, the Pentagon, Farm Aid, and more. But first... |
At ABC's annual presentation for advertisers last year, Jimmy Kimmel looked over to his boss, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and made light of Iger's return to the company after stepping down from the CEO post in 2020. "Bob Iger, this guy, he should be retired by now," Kimmel joked. "You should be off on a yacht somewhere!"
Seriously, though, that yacht probably sounds pretty good to Iger right now. Remaining in retirement wasn't really an option for the restless Iger. But some fellow execs are wryly wondering if he regrets being back on top right now.
Iger, 74, who once wanted to run for president against Trump, is in a no-win situation with Kimmel on one side, Trump on the other, and Disney's reputation at stake. Three full days have now passed without a publicly announced resolution.
Walt Disney's original vision was all-American, right down to the flags along Main Street USA, and the company now exports Americana all around the world. But you know what else is all-American? The First Amendment. And Kimmel's suspension amid government pressure has turned Disney into a movie-ready villain in the eyes of many consumers.
Disney so cherishes its squeaky-clean brand that it doesn't even let trash linger on the ground at Disneyland. But now there are free speech protesters picketing outside the theme park. One sign at last night's rally in Anaheim called it "the happiest place on Earth – as long as you comply."
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Here's what is weighing on Disney |
"ABC stands for Always Be Caving," Bill Maher said on "Real Time" last night, calling to mind his own experience being canceled by the network in 2002.
While I'm skeptical that the calls to boycott Disney+ and Hulu will really hurt the company's bottom line, the antI-ABC protests and ongoing news coverage reflect the possibility of long-term reputational damage. Every single reliable poll shows that a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump. Media brands that cave to Trump, or appear to do so, risk alienating a huge swath of the American audience.
As ad industry analyst Brian Wieser put it, media outlets that "more aggressively self-censor going forward may turn off viewers who will further shift their current affairs consumption towards digital platforms," a/k/a Substack and Bluesky and YouTube and the like. In other words, capitulating to Trump can accelerate the erosion of broadcast TV.
Iger, Dana Walden and other Disney execs are surely aware of this. They're aware that Disney employees are perturbed, Hollywood showrunners are outraged, and some of their friends and family members are horrified about what's happening in America right now.
But Iger and Co. are also aware that Disney needs government approval for pending deals like ESPN's pact with the NFL; that its station partners are in the same boat; and that crossing Trump can have severe financial consequences. Plus, Kimmel's contract is expiring soon, and late-night TV is a rapidly shrinking business.
I keep trying to emphasize that the Trump administration has limited power to actually follow through on threats to station licenses. Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner was accurate yesterday when he called the threats "aggressive yet hollow."
But that doesn't change the fact that Disney is a "huge company with a lot of businesses and a lot of things that it works with and relies on the federal government for," as Morningstar analyst Matthew Dolgin told WaPo. And as veteran TV reporter Joe Adalian points out in this Vulture column titled "Iger's Choice," two "Trump-loyal station groups" may not budge when it comes to Kimmel.
So if there is a way for Iger to "win" here, I sure don't see it.
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David Pashaee/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images |
Wagmeister's latest reporting |
Elizabeth Wagmeister reports: The crew for Kimmel's late-night show will be paid through next week, while the future of the program remains in limbo, two sources close to the show told CNN. "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" employs a staff of roughly 200 to 250 individuals, and Kimmel is said to be incredibly mindful of his staff, as he weighs his options during ongoing discussions with ABC. Read on...
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Trump undercuts the MAGA line |
Andrew Kirell writes: Many MAGA conservatives have gone to great lengths denying that Kimmel's benching has anything to do with coercive government threats or an incursion on free speech. Trump's media allies have claimed this was merely "the free market at work." And despite his threat that set everything in motion, FCC chair Brendan Carr has framed Kimmelgate as a situation where concerned viewers and local station owners wisely rose up against an out-of-touch national network.
Then Trump went and said the quiet part out loud yesterday.
"I'm a very strong person for free speech," Trump said in the Oval Office. However, when "97% of the stories are bad about a person, that's no longer free speech."
Trump asserted that critical coverage of him is "really illegal." And he said Carr "doesn't want to see our airwaves used illegally."
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Recall this inauguration day promise? |
Last night, Anderson Cooper played a clip of Trump on Inauguration Day promising to "stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America." Trump said, "Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents."
But as we've written here before, these arguments are really about favored versus disfavored speech. Trump has shown a willingness to use government power in ways "beyond what we saw in the Nixon administration to lean on and coerce broadcast media into submission," Cooper said.
>> Trump also repeatedly said yesterday that ABC "had to pay me $16 million," referring to last December's lawsuit settlement. But ABC didn't have to pay Trump a penny. That's the whole point actually: They chose to pay last December, rather than risking a trial, and the settlement seemed to embolden the president to turn up the heat even higher.
>> Related: This AP headline is appropriately blunt: "Trump's moves against media outlets mirror authoritarian approaches to silencing dissent."
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So many Americans are walking on eggshells right now, Jon Stewart said in his Thursday night conversation with "How to Stand Up to a Dictator" author Maria Ressa. The interview is definitely worth watching here on YouTube.
"It feels like Americans are like deer in headlights," Ressa remarked. "Yeah," Stewart said, "I feel that way." But "if you don't move," Ressa warned, and if you don't "protect the rights you have, you lose them. And it's so much harder to reclaim them" later.
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Benny Johnson cheers 'cultural victory' |
Sen. Ted Cruz gained a lot of attention yesterday for taking a bold stand against Carr's ABC threat, calling it "dangerous as hell" and likening it to a "mafioso coming into a bar going, 'Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.'"
But make no mistake: Many MAGA media influencers are cheering Carr on. "Why can't Republicans, like, understand that these are cultural victories that we must win?" Benny Johnson asked yesterday in a chat with Charlie Kirk's longtime right-hand-man Tyler Bowyer.
>> As Wesley Lowery pointed out in this new column on his Substack, "a world in which people not only distrust, but in many cases actively despise, their media, is a world in which people will condone acts of government censorship and coercion, making such acts more likely."
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'Their goal is to instill fear' |
"Did you even watch Andor?" That's what one of the signs said at one of the anti-Disney protests in Burbank this week. "'Andor' writer Dan Gilroy last weekend won an Emmy for the Season 2 episode titled 'Welcome to the Rebellion,' which features Mon Mothma’s anti-fascism speech," Deadline notes, setting up a guest column by Gilroy about the "siege" that's underway.
"The first thing Putin did after taking power was silence shows that criticized him," Gilroy wrote here. "Artists are censored first because they fear us most."
His conclusion: "Their goal is to instill fear, to make you feel helpless, hopeless, to break you down. Don’t let them. Educate yourself. Organize. Speak truth to authority. Because the story's not written — the pen is in your hand."
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On a more personal note... |
Iger's wife, Willow Bay, is slated to host a fundraiser for the International Women's Media Foundation at their home next month. Bay chairs the foundation's board. However, "several board members have expressed their concerns internally over the optics of holding a free speech event at the home of the man who yanked Kimmel off the air," THR's Peter Kiefer reports.
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'Jimmy Kimmel Live' ... on Netflix? |
CNBC's Alex Sherman wasn't serious about this proposal, but it sure was clever: "Netflix should use its event strategy and buy the rights to Jimmy Kimmel’s return show from Disney," he wrote. "Netflix gets a big audience, the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction, Disney/the affiliates don’t have to take the heat …. Everyone wins!"
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Stephen A. Smith as a Kimmel replacement? |
Front Office Sports senior writer Michael McCarthy floated this idea in a new story today. Stephen A. Smith "has told FOS several times about his interest in late-night TV. He's even substituted for Kimmel on his show, drawing positive reviews from critics." But McCarthy also says Smith "may be too well-compensated and busy to worry about late-night TV." Still, the notion of replacing Kimmel with a new host – rather than giving up on the daypart altogether – may hold some appeal in Burbank...
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Shots fired outside Sacramento station |
A Sacramento man was arrested early this morning "in connection with what city police described as a drive-by shooting at a local ABC affiliate news station, KXTV," CNN's Zoe Sottile and Elizabeth Wolfe report. Thankfully no one was injured. "Authorities are working to determine a motive for the shooting." Read on...
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WH says US will complete TikTok deal 'in coming days' |
CNN’s Betsy Klein reports: The White House is "100% confident" that a deal on TikTok with China is final and will soon be signed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday, announcing new key details of that agreement, including plans for the US to control the app's algorithm. "We just need this deal to be signed, and that will be happening, I anticipate, in the coming days," she said. CNN's Auzinea Bacon and Clare Duffy have more here.
>> Leavitt's comments came on the premiere of former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany's new weekend morning show "Saturday in America."
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Pentagon ratchets up press restrictions |
"Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a Friday evening email, said journalists could continue to enter the Defense Department only if they sign a note saying they will not publish classified information or some less sensitive documents that are not explicitly labeled as government secrets," Politico's Jack Detsch reports. WaPo's Scott Nover has much more on the "escalating restrictions" here.
Press freedom groups are objecting to the new rules and media lawyers are reviewing the Pentagon documents. We'll have more on this in Monday's newsletter...
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Farm Aid turns 40, live on CNN |
CNN is the "exclusive television broadcast partner of Farm Aid 40," taking place at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and the live coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET tonight. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir will provide on-the-ground reporting, while John Berman and Laura Coates will co-anchor the coverage until midnight...
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Coming together to mourn Charlie |
Networks are preparing for hours of special coverage of Sunday's memorial service for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona.
"With a lineup of speakers from the highest levels of the US government, including President Donald Trump, Kirk’s memorial is poised to resemble something akin to a state funeral for the US conservative movement, carrying with it all the gravity – and security concerns – such an occasion entails," CNN's Dakin Andone writes.
USA Today has details about how and where to watch here. Fox News says a special edition of "Fox & Friends" will broadcast from outside State Farm Stadium in the morning. CNN will be live with complete coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET.
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