Following the announcement Wednesday that ABC had opted to indefinitely pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! and suspend host Jimmy Kimmel, another late night show has offered an animated (and musical) comment on the decision.
CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert created a rapidly turned around cold open featuring a recreation of Lumière, the talking candelabra from Disney’s 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast (voiced by Jerry Orbach in the movie), performing a parody of the film’s Oscar-nominated original song “Be Our Guest.”
On Friday, former Disney CEO (in charge from 1984 to 2005) and founder of The Tornante Company Michael Eisner voiced his opinion on the situation on his X account, seemingly taking aim at current company chief Bob Iger. “Where has all the leadership gone?,” Iger wrote. “If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment?
“The ‘suspending indefinitely’ of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC’s aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation. Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.’ By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.”
The events have also drawn X commentary from former President Barack Obama, former Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg and swaths of angry consumers sharing they have canceled their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions. On the ground, hundreds of union writers (WGA) and actors (SAG-AFTRA) marched outside the Disney lot in Burbank, Calif. under the banner “Protest ABC – For Comedy, Criticism and the 1st Amendment.” Passing drivers on Alameda Ave. honked in support, as seen in this video from Deadline.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert bit opens with a supercut of reports about Disney-owned ABC’s response to threats by Trump-appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr over Kimmel’s comments about the suspect in right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s killing.
Entrez Lumière, taking up a matchstick cane and red snuffer emblazoned with “MAGA.”
“Listen up,” the mimic begins in Lumière’s trademark French accent, “In light of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, ABC’s parent company, the Walt Disney Corporation, has a little message for all the employees….
“Shut … your … trap!
Shut your trap!
We are warning you to cut the crap.
Our Dear Leader’s skin is thinner than a sheet of plastic wrap.
Mum’s the word, have you heard?
Kissing ass is what’s preferred!
Don’t insult our Great Dictator
or he’ll hit you with this turd.
The new rule at ABC:
Don’t make fun of Donny T.
(And don’t point out that his neck is mostly flap.)
So don’t you make a scene
— or mention Jeff Epstein —
or your show will be scrapped.
Shut your trap!”
(It’s worth pointing out that the “this turd” lyric accompanies a reveal of Brendan Carr’s photo.)
