Bob Iger claims Jimmy Kimmel's suspension was about bad taste, not politics

Despite doing exactly what those in the Trump administration wanted him to do, Iger denies claims that the move was political. “That was not the case,” he says in a new interview with The Financial Times. “We thought it was in bad taste,” he says, adding, “We just wanted him to acknowledge that it was an ill-timed and probably inappropriate comment.” 

Kimmel sort of did this, eschewing what could definitionally be called an apology for an “I get why you’re upset.” The late-night host also faced another wave of calls for cancellation for an ill-timed-if-you-squint joke ahead of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner back in April. This time—which was after Iger had handed the reins of the company over to new CEO Josh D’Amaro—Disney refused to cave, which Iger says he supports. “I’m thoroughly supportive. It’s what we anticipated needing to do if the government’s threats turned into action,” he says. Now, we may not be exorbitantly paid CEOs here, but we’d posit that caving to the administration on the issue once—not to mention settling lawsuits and firing critical ABC News correspondents—only emboldened the government to turn those threats into action. The FCC is reviewing ABC’s broadcasting licenses early, but we suppose that’s D’Amaro’s problem now.