Disney investors say handling of Jimmy Kimmel suspension put politics over shareholders, demand records

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JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs each weeknight astatine 11:35 p.m. ET and features a divers lineup of guests that see celebrities, athletes, philharmonic acts, comedians and quality involvement subjects, on with drama bits and a location band.

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A radical of Disney investors is demanding entree to institution records, alleging that the amusement giant's handling of late-night big Jimmy Kimmel's suspension reflected governmental pressures alternatively than the champion interests of shareholders.

In a missive sent Wednesday to CEO Bob Iger, lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, a federation of labour unions, and Reporters Without Borders said they are seeking committee materials, communications and policies related to the suspension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" 

The capitalist groups reason that the determination was driven by threats from national regulators and broadcast affiliates, alternatively than a concern calculation to payment shareholders.

"Disney's banal suffered important declines successful effect to the abrupt suspension, which appeared to beryllium successful effect to governmental threats," the investors wrote successful the letter, which was archetypal reported by Semafor.

Disney shares fell 3.3% from Sept. 17, the time aft Kimmel was suspended, done this past Monday. Kimmel was pulled from the aerial aft his Sept. 15 monologue addressing the politicization of the assassination of blimpish activistic Charlie Kirk. The big returned to ABC connected Tuesday, though affiliates representing astir a 4th of U.S. households, including Nexstar and Sinclair stations, didn't transportation the program.

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Disney banal from 9/17

The investors question committee minutes, interior communications, affiliate agreements and analyses of the fiscal interaction of the suspension.

"There is simply a credible ground to fishy that the Board and executives whitethorn person breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and bully religion by placing improper governmental oregon affiliate considerations supra the champion interests of the Company and its stockholders," the investors said successful the letter.

One of the lawyers representing the investors is Roberta Kaplan, champion known for winning writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump.

"A bedrock of the United States and the cardinal to our endurance arsenic the world's oldest ideology is state of speech," Kaplan said successful a connection to CNBC. "The authorities cannot and should not endanger to punish idiosyncratic simply due to the fact that it does not similar what they person to say. And portion ample media companies person been astatine the beforehand lines, they excessively should not succumb to unconstitutional threats oregon blackmail."

— CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed reporting.

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