Jimmy Kimmel, who was suspended from his late-night show in September over his inflammatory comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer, is featured in next month’s Vanity Fair holding the very edition of The New York Post that trumpeted his on-air return.

The late-night host was photographed holding the Sept. 23 newspaper featuring his grinning face — and the headline, “What a joke!” — while sitting atop Los Angeles’ El Capitan Theatre where his show is filmed.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is featured in next month’s Vanity Fair holding the very edition of The New York Post that trumpeted his on-air return. Norman Jean Roy / Vanity Fair.

The Post’s front-page story exclusively reported that Kimmel would be back on ABC, though the country’s largest owner of its local affiliate stations wouldn’t air his show after he refused to apologize for his false suggestion that Kirk’s assassin was a pro-Trump Republican.

Sources told The Post that Kimmel negotiated his return to the airwaves directly with Disney CEO Bob Iger and his No. 2, Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden, and that he was set to clarity his comments in his monologue but would not issue a mea culpa, as both he and his bosses “didn’t think he did anything wrong.”

Kimmel prominently features in a Vanity Fair article about Hollywood “at a crossroads.” The issue is set to hit newsstands Dec. 2.

The article, which is already available online, consists of a series of vignettes about Hollywood’s movers and shakers — including Paramount Skydance boss David Ellison, celebrity stylist Law Roach and Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

The Sept. 23 front page of The Post featuring his grinning face.

In the piece, Kimmel revisits what Vanity Fair calls a “good news day” — namely, the day Disney-owned ABC put him back on the air after a brief hiatus.

“This September, in the face of censorship, Kimmel unwittingly became a beacon that united everyone from anti-fascists to Ted Cruz,” Vanity Fair wrote. “Soon there were calls to boycott Disney and protest an administration that would dare take away an American’s right to laugh — and to free speech. Perhaps as more rights come under attack, Americans will remember this moment of collective power.”

Kimmel was briefly suspended over his inflammatory comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer. via REUTERS

The longtime TV host was suspended from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for six days over his tasteless commentary about Kirk’s killer.

Iger and Walden benched the late night star as they faced scrutiny from Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr, President Trump and major affiliate stations Nexstar and Sinclair.

President Trump, next to Erika Kirk, posthumously awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk in October. Getty Images

Meanwhile, Kimmel’s A-list friends like actor Ben Stiller, comedians Wanda Sykes and Marc Maron, rivals Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert — and even former President Obama — backed Kimmel publicly.

Over 1.7 million users also canceled their Disney+, Hulu and ESPN subscriptions following the suspension.

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Walt Disney owns the streaming platforms and ABC. ABC pulled the show off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

ABC pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Disney

Antenna estimates total cancellations in September were 4.1 million for Hulu and 3 million for Disney+. The “churn rate,” or the percentage of customers that cancel their subscriptions in a specific month, jumped from 5% in August to 10% in September for Hulu. That figure jumped 4% in August to 8% in September for Disney+.

However, signups were higher in September for both Hulu and Disney+ than the prior five months.

Antenna is a subscription analytics company that tracks US consumer data. The data excludes subscribers in bundle deals.

In its most recent earnings report for the quarter ended June 28, Disney reported 183 million Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions.

Disney declined to comment.

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The cancellations were recorded between Sept. 17-23, according to The Handbasket newsletter, which was the first to report the figures.

The 1.7 million cancellations represented a 436% increase above baseline subscriber churn, according to the report.

Disney’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel prompted calls to boycott the company. ABC/AFP via Getty Images

Scores of social media users posted screenshots of their subscription cancellations following the Sept. 17 decision by Disney to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the airwaves.

Kimmel sparked controversy two days earlier when he delivered a monologue about the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

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During the monologue, Kimmel said that “the Maga Gang is desperately trying to portray this individual who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of their own, and they are doing everything possible to leverage this for political advantage.” 

Sinclair and Nexstar, two of the largest ABC affiliate owners, said they would refuse to air the show and the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, suggested that the agency would take action against Disney.

More than 1.7 million paid subscribers of Disney streaming apps including Disney+, Hulu and ESPN. Getty Images

The Kimmel suspension sparked a backlash with Hollywood creatives, labor unions and media denouncing what they believed to be government-imposed censorship.

Last week, Disney announced that it reached an agreement to put Kimmel back on the air.

Sinclair and Nexstar initially said they would pre-empt the show, which was unavailable to a quarter of the country when it returned for the first few nights.

But the two companies announced on Friday that they would lift the blackout on the show — the likely result of Disney holding considerable leverage by dint of the affiliate agreements it struck with the firms.

Kimmel’s return to the airwaves smashed records ratings, but the numbers came down to earth in the days that followed, according to Nielsen figures.

On Thursday, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” averaged 2.3 million total viewers — a staggering 64% drop from the 6.5 million who tuned in for Tuesday’s much-hyped return. 

The 1.7 million cancellations represented a 436% increase above baseline subscriber churn, according to the report. M. Scott Brauer/ZUMA / SplashNews.com

Kimmel shed even more viewers in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, with Thursday’s episode hemorrhaging 73% of viewers from the critical category. 

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” pulled in 1.7 million viewers among the key demo for Tuesday’s return but plummeted to 465,000 only 48 hours later. 

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” also lost significant viewers in the younger demographic of adults aged 18-49, managing 1.2 million on Tuesday but quickly losing 73% to settle for only 334,000 on Thursday. 

The report first appeared in The Handbasket newsletter over the weekend.

At around the time of Kimmel’s return, Disney said it would be raising prices across its streaming services next month.

The Disney+/Hulu bundle with ads will increase by $2, going from $11 to $13 per month. Disney+ Premium, which offers an ad-free experience, will see a $3 hike, rising from $16 to $19 per month.

The ad-supported Disney+ plan is going up by $2, from $10 to $12 monthly. Meanwhile, Hulu + Live TV with ads will face the steepest jump, climbing $7 from $83 to $90 a month.

The Post has sought comment from Disney and ABC.

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Indeed, it’s likely only a matter of days before both the two companies that own dozens of ABC affiliate stations nationwide cave – and end their suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over its host’s incendiary and misleading remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, sources said.

That’s because Disney is expected to use its clout to pressure both companies to abide by their so-called affiliate agreements with ABC. These megabuck contracts prescribe the fee schedule that local broadcasters like Nexstar and Sinclair pay to run national programming – along with the conditions that must be met to cancel shows.

Disney CEO Bob Iger is expected to pull out all the stops to get Jimmy Kimmel back on air on Nexstar amd Sinclair stations, sources tell On The Money. Getty Images

They are among the largest sources of revenue for networks including ABC, a unit of the Disney entertainment empire headed by CEO Bob Iger. With Kimmel’s show yanked from dozens of media markets across the US, national advertisers will begin demanding lower rates or rebates, forcing Iger to take legal action or other coercive measures.

“This is coming to an end – sooner rather than later,” said one veteran media executive with knowledge of the matter. “Iger knows the advertising pressure he’s going to face if Nexstar and Sinclair don’t bring back Kimmel, which means he will pull out all the stops to get Kimmel back on air.”

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Reps for Disney, Sinclair and Nexstar didn’t return requests for comment.

Affiliate agreements do give broadcasters like Sinclair and Nexstar some ability to throttle programming from the big networks through what is known as a “right to reject” clause. Back in 2018, some affiliate stations refused to air the sitcom “Roseanne” when allegedly racist comments made by Roseanne Barr emerged. 

People last week gather outside of KOMO-TV’s headquarters, the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned ABC affiliate television station in Seattle, to protest ABC’s suspension of Kimmel. M. Scott Brauer/ZUMA / SplashNews.com

And yes – Nexstar needs approval from the Trump Federal Communications Commission for its purchase of rival broadcaster Tegna. Sinclair, likewise, is always in deal mode and in need of regulatory OKs, and Trump FCC chair Brendan Carr has said he would throttle deals of local broadcasters that air false commentary.

Kimmel’s commentary was certainly noxious. Last week he inaccurately stated that the “MAGA gang” was looking to capitalize on Kirk’s assassination by making the killer out to be “anything other than one of them.” The actual killer despised Kirk’s conservative politics.

With Kimmel’s show yanked from dozens of media markets across the US, national advertisers will begin demanding lower rates or rebates, forcing Iger to take legal action or other coercive measures. J W Hendricks/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

But media insiders say Nexstar and Sinclair face even bigger problems from the Disney side if they keep him off the air. Both signed their agreements fully aware of Kimmel’s hyper-partisan and anti-Trump political humor. Disney could argue the continued suspension of Kimmel violates their agreement. That’s after Kimmel, while not making an apology, at least said nice things about Kirk’s widow after ABC lifted its own suspension on Tuesday.

Disney has other tools in its kit – and some of them are big. It could withhold essential programming like Monday Night Football, which airs both on ABC, and Disney’s ESPN cable sports channel.

Sinclair is always in deal mode and in need of regulatory OKs, and Trump FCC chair Brendan Carr has said he would throttle deals of local broadcasters that air false commentary. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Iger is under pressure from his advertisers and his shareholders to force both networks — they control some 66 ABC affiliates in cities across 38 states  — to reinstate Kimmel as soon as possible as the impasse threatens to blow a hole in Disney’s balance sheet.

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Combined, both broadcasters control a huge swath of ABC affiliated networks; they allow ABC, for example, to charge significantly higher ad rates because of their reach into middle America including the average of 1.4 million Americans who watch Kimmel on average each night (Kimmel’s viewership shot up to more than 6 million the night he returned amid the controversy.)

Iger, a veteran media executive who has been running the House of Mouse off and on for the past 20 years, is loath to set a precedent where affiliate networks can pick and choose which programs to air and depress its all-important audience count it sells to advertisers at a moment’s notice.

Of course, just because Iger will likely prevail in this standoff doesn’t mean he’ll win any popularity contests elsewhere.

“I hate to be Bob Iger these days,” said one rival media CEO.

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Whether these two companies, which own 60 of the network’s affiliates across the country, believe the comedian shows some degree of contrition for inaccurately blaming Kirk’s death on Trump supporters.

Nexstar and Sinclair control of huge swath of local broadcasting, cover 22 million households in local markets across the country that airs ABC content.

ABC receives so-called affiliate fees from these local broadcasters to air its content, including sitcoms, national news and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The broadcasters sell advertising against this content.

At issue for Nexstar and Sinclair: They also serve middle America and an audience that skews right-leaning and pro Trump.

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Many viewers in red states see Kimmel as a partisan hack for his almost nightly anti-Trump diatribes, and fewer viewers mean the broadcasters will have a difficult time attracting local advertisers for this contents

The complexity is why Sinclair and Nexstar are closely watching what Kimmel says Tuesday night, his first day back after Disney and ABC suspended him for the Kirk comments.

Disney has not said if Kimmel will apologize for his comments made last Monday that the “MAGA gang” was looking to capitalize on Kirk’s assassination by making the killer out to be “anything other than one of them.”

Few in the media business expect Kimmel to offer a full throated apology; in fact, Kimmel’s suspension by Disney and ABC came after he told CEO Bob Iger he wouldn’t apologize for the comments.

But if he continues to inflame the situation either tonight or in the days and weeks ahead one or both of these broadcasters could continue to throttle running Kimmel on their ABC affiliates, people with direct knowledge of the matter say. 

The move could set the stage for high stakes legal battles between Disney and the broadcasters, who would effectively be breaching their affiliate agreements with the ABC’s parent company.

“I see this going to court,” said one former DOJ official now working in private practice advising big media companies.

“It’s in Kimmel’s interest not to apologize because it attracts eyeballs to his brand. And if he doesn’t, it serves Nextar and Sinclair to keep him off the air because they serve a right-leaning audience, and have business before Trump regulators.”

The former official added: “ABC and Disney are caught in the middle since Nexstar and Sinclair will probably withhold their affiliate fees as well.”

Reps for Disney, Sinclair and Nexstar had no immediate comment.

Also adding pressure to keep Kimmel on a tight leash is the regulatory environment.

As reported, Nexstar needs Trump Federal Communications Commission approval for its $6 billion deal to buy broadcaster Signa.

Disney, meanwhile, needs approval from the FCC to complete its purchase of the NFL Network.

Sinclair has been in growth mode in recent years and undoubtedly will find itself before the FCC.

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The agency’s chairman, chairman Brendan Carr, has threatened to quash transactions if broadcasters don’t follow his interpretation of the FCC’s “public interest” rules that govern local broadcasting as opposed to cable.

Carr recently said that Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk fall outside those boundaries.

If the affiliate agreement is breached expect Disney to sue both companies, the former DOJ official as well as other media industry sources.

ABC owns so-called alternate networks in various markets that run programming such as the Home Shopping Network as opposed to its news and entertainment content.

It could begin to stream Kimmel through those venues as well, these people add.

In a statement released Monday, Disney announced Kimmel’s return adding that it did so after “thoughtful conversations with Jimmy,” over his “ill-timed and thus insensitive comments” about Kirk.

As I reported, Iger and Disney decided to bring Kimmel back despite the national uproar over his remarks because his show apparently makes money for the network, people inside the company told the Post.

Iger has also faced pressure from left-wing activists and many in the Hollywood community for caving to attempts by the Trump Administration to censor Kimmel’s’ decidedly one-sided comedy routine.

Kimmel earns around $16 million a year, and some media analysts say his show loses upwards of $20 million a year because his ratings have nose-dived in recent years, and ad revenues around the show have plummeted, people inside the company concede.

But sources inside Disney say the company squeezes a lot of juice out of Kimmel, including those affiliate fees for networks that pick up Kimmel’s programming, online ads and sponsorship deals.

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Iger, who is said to have a reputation for having a “thin skin,” relented on Monday and gave the green light to resume new episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” without requiring the longtime host to offer up an apology for falsely claiming that Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was one of the “MAGA gang.”

While Iger was pilloried by unions, entertainers and liberals for the move, it was Eisner’s “drive-by” message on X that “stung” the most, according to Puck News.

Disney CEO Bob Iger’s (right) handling of Jimmy Kimmel was criticized by his predecessor, Michael Eisner (left). Getty Images

In a rare public rebuke, Eisner, 83, whose bruising mid-2000s succession battle with Iger is said to have soured the relationship between the two men, wrote an X post last week asking: “Where has all the leadership gone?”

Eisner accused his successor of failing to stand up to “out-of-control intimidation” by the FCC.

“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’,” Eisner wrote.

The blow landed squarely on Iger, who returned as CEO in late 2022 and has been navigating a polarized media climate.

An industry veteran told Puck News that Iger “loathes” Eisner after a bruising succession fight — making the broadside especially stinging as Disney scrambled to calm affiliates, advertisers and staff.

Iger moved to put late-night host Jimmy Kimmel back on the air after he was “stung” by criticism from his old boss Eisner, whom he “loathes,” according to a report. Jimmy Kimmel Live / YouTube

According to the veteran, the animus stems from Eisner having “tortured and humiliated” Iger in the CEO succession process two decades ago.

If Eisner were still in charge at the House of Mouse, he would have handled the Kimmel brouhaha differently than Iger, according to observers.

While Iger bowed to pressure to bench Kimmel after affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar protested the host’s Kirk monologue, Eisner would have threatened the two companies, industry analysts told Puck.

“Michael doesn’t give a f–k what anybody else thinks if he thinks he’s doing the right thing,” a former Disney insider told the news site.

“And sometimes it would bite him in the ass.”

Veteran Disney observers told Puck News on Tuesday they were shocked by Iger’s predecessor’s social media post in which he weighed in on such a sensitive, politically charged topic.

In a rare public rebuke, Eisner, 83, wrote an X post last week asking: “Where has all the leadership gone?” Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

“I can’t think of a time when he weighed in on something that was political with a capital P,” Dan Wolf, Disney’s former vice president of corporate communications, told Puck News.

The Post has sought comment from Iger, Bay and Disney. A rep for Eisner told The Post that the ex-CEO will have no comment beyond his X post from last week.

Eisner’s X post only added to the pressure on Iger, according to the Puck News report.

The Disney boss faced backlash from unions representing creatives as well as from A-list celebrities and entertainers who say he capitulated to what is widely perceived as the Trump administration’s assault on the First Amendment.

Iger is also reported to have paid a personal price for his decision last week to suspend Kimmel.

The organizers of a fundraiser at the home of Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, reportedly considered pulling out of the event. Getty Images

Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, the dean of USC’s Annenberg School, were slated to host a fundraiser at their Los Angeles home for women in media, but the host committee was considering pulling out as the Kimmel backlash swelled, according to Puck News.

The potential walkout shows the extent to which the suspension had spilled beyond corporate PR into Hollywood’s social calendar, threatening Iger’s standing with key allies and donors, the news site reported.

Iger and Eisner have a long history in the corporate boardroom.

In the early 2000s, Disney under Eisner was stagnating after a string of box office flops, sagging ratings for its flagship television property ABC and its ruptured relationship with Steve Jobs’ animation studio Pixar.

Iger and Disney have come under fire for the decision to sideline Kimmel. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

This triggered a shareholder revolt led by Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold that culminated in 43% of company investors withholding support for Eisner, costing him the chairmanship while he stayed on as CEO.

Disney and Gold blasted Eisner at the time, accusing him of orchestring a “sham” search for CEO that was designed to land on his preferred candidate, Iger.

While Eisner publicly called Iger his “preferred choice,” concerns persisted that he was “hand-picked” — further fueling the public perception of a rigged, humiliating process for everyone involved, Iger included.

In 2005, Iger eventually succeeded to the position of CEO after reaching a compromise with Disney. He then moved quickly to distance the company from Eisner’s centralized style of leadership by rebuilding ties with creative partners — most notably Pixar.

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Where does a joke end? The last decision an artist makes is deciding when a piece is finished, when one more brushstroke might ruin the painting. When it comes to the freedom of expression, the right wing in America has dropped the curtain. The right’s podcasters, TV stars, agency heads, and presidents have decided that the joke is over.

Jimmy Kimmel was ripped off the air this week because a few sensitive people can’t take a joke [ed. note: or are pretending they can’t] and a series of companies are trying to make a profit. The hypocrisy and shortsightedness of this shouldn’t be a shock. Those profiting from art have rarely been willing to compromise cash for values. Now though, there’s little safe haven in independent art either, where podcasting and comedy have welcomed truly noxious voices that are eager to remake themselves as Wormtongues in the halls of power.

To those who have been aghast at the the genocide in Palestine and have watched for years as protesters are snatched off the streets and deported, the hope that the powerful might find moral courage has long fallen away. But for many, Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation is ringing fascism alarm bells for the first time, and bringing into focus just how eagerly pliable many Americans are.

Kimmel was canceled at the end of a Rube Goldberg machine that started with a podcast appearance. Free speech hypocrite and Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appeared on a right wing podcast on Wednesday, and was mad at one of Kimmel’s late night jokes that mentioned dead podcaster Charlie Kirk. Carr called the joke “the sickest conduct possible” and suggested that the FCC could revoke ABC’s affiliate licenses in retaliation, forcing Disney to punish Kimmel. Nexstar, an affiliate group that owns 197 TV stations across the US, heard the call and threatened to stop airing Kimmel, which tipped the hand of ABC’s leadership at Disney.

Nexstar is trying to merge with Tegna, another large media company, a deal which will need federal approval. And if you’re surprised Disney isn’t doing the right thing, I have a magic castle to sell you.

No matter what you’re fleeing, a right wing heel turn will welcome you in and give you access to a lot of money.

It doesn’t matter to any of these people that the joke wasn’t made at the expense of Kirk, but was instead about how the Trump administration is using his death as an excuse to shut down criticism. The content of the joke wouldn’t stop the state reprisals that were already in the works. Days earlier, the Vice President had taken over Kirk’s podcast to announce their planned crackdown on the left, a holy war in the name of a recent martyr, taking advantage of our collective lack of reading comprehension.

So many podcasts. And suddenly they’re powerful, influential enough to take down a late night network show and to announce a major national program of retaliation. Comedy podcasts, especially those typified by the Austin stand-up scene, have become a haven for canceled creeps and the fascist-curious, and a big part of the culture of anti-woke, reactionary guys. These edgy podcasts claim that it doesn’t matter what you say, as long as it’s funny, and built a parallel meritocracy of the aggrieved around this worldview, where you’re judged on your ability to cross certain lines and toe others. It’s a stable ecosystem with a lot of money, which is exceedingly rare in creative fields.

In practice this approach only cheapens the form. You don’t have to believe what you’re saying, as long as it gets the right reaction. It sets up a perverse loop where the content of jokes or takes no longer matters, not really. People who don’t care about saying horrible things, things they don’t believe in, can get laughs and get paid. But people who do care about horrible things and want to see them happen in the world, can voice their beliefs out loud, and be rewarded with laughter and applause. A world where nothing and everything is a joke.

Naturally cancellation doesn’t penetrate this bubble as you might expect, but insofar as the cries of cancel culture were only ever the privileged fearing their own downward mobility, it’s not that surprising. No matter what you’re fleeing, a right wing heel turn will welcome you in and give you access to a lot of money and the most powerful people in the world.

This world has become so powerful that it’s escaped containment, riding alongside Trump’s blitzkrieg and lashing out at the rest of us. Carefully avoiding stepping on their toes doesn’t seem to help. Look at Jimmy Fallon, who steered clear of the wrong jokes and tousled the right hair, and is still catching all-caps strays on Truth Social. I wonder if this is the moment when the comedian, who went on yet another podcast to blame an online “gang-mentality’” for his choice to be “never too hard on anyone,” will finally see that there’s no middle way out of this bind.

If all of your fantasies are imagined confrontations, whether in roast battles, or campus debates, or first-person shooters, you are not so secretly rehearsing for the chance to fight and punish your enemies.

We’re the only ones who can save ourselves. I’m inspired by the music world’s antifascism, where the only option was mutual aid and direct action. Did the cops care that white power bands were playing a bar show for a couple dozen people? Of course not, so it was up to the punks to chase them off. Protect your friends and your spaces, or lose them.

Large parts of the comedy world didn’t learn this lesson—I’ve written before about how comedy failed us. There are some who have been ringing the alarm. Seth Simons has been relentlessly documenting comedy’s right wing for years. And Kliph Nesteroff’s 2024 book Outrageous on the culture wars is excellent too. I returned this morning to the section on the German cabaret artist Werner Finck and his Nazi foe Joseph Goebbels, who sneered that “we do not permit ourselves to be ridiculed” and “Comedians have no right to be jocular about such things as the Nazi four-year economic plan or Adolf Hitler’s demand for colonies because they are too important and require too much careful thinking on the part of big minds.”

Marc Maron has been great these days too, calling out fash-adjacent comics and even taking some of the blame for the rise of Rogan and his ilk. This is the sort of solidarity we need right now, when our neighbors are being dragged out of the country, our trans friends are being vilified for everything, and our Kimmels are getting booted off the air. I’m glad to see unions stepping up today: The American Federation of Musicians, SAG-AFTRA, and the WGA spoke out, calling this “state censorship” and decrying the “abuse of governmental power” and “acts of corporate cowardice.”

How does the joke go on? How do you satirize a moment like this? I was reminded today of a short Connor O’Malley made seven years ago called “Outlet Mall Special Ops,” about a guy defending a strip mall from ISIS because he saw the Benghazi movie too many times. This character is on our feeds every day now, appearing as ICE goons cosplaying as tactical bad boys, or people standing outside screaming with 8.5”x11” printouts, or anyone else breathless with flailing rage and holes bored in their psyches from Facebook posts.

There’s a line in O’Malley’s “Outlet Mall Special Ops” where his character says, “I do hope there is an attack though, if I’m being honest. I mean I don’t want to fucking come down here for nothing.” If all of your fantasies are imagined confrontations, whether in roast battles, or campus debates, or first-person shooters, you are not so secretly rehearsing for the chance to fight and punish your enemies. Trump and his hogmen have built a permission structure of anger that’s allowed our worst podcasters to be at the center of the action, where they’ve always imagined themselves to be.

The world is being ravaged by these cosplayers. Podcasters on the right (and the reactionary center) normalize fascism by cosplaying at concerned free speech warriors. Israel pummels Gaza by cosplaying at self defense. ICE kicks in doors and disappears our neighbors by cosplaying at Marvel cartoons. But for the rest of us, it’s no longer a LARP, and the joke is getting less and less funny every day.

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The furious ABC late-show host went to his lawyer’s office in Los Angeles that afternoon for a video meeting with Disney TV honcho Dana Walden and ABC late-night head Rob Mills to try to figure out a path forward for his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” sources told The Post.

But neither side could reach an agreement, according to sources and Puck News, which first reported the meeting.

Jimmy Kimmel was seen today outside of a medical building in Century City. London Entertainment for NY Post

The tense closed-door powwow took place the day after Disney, the parent company of ABC, yanked Kimmel from the air for refusing to cop a mea culpa over his controversial comments Monday and Tuesday about the assassination of conservative icon Kirk and for digging in his heels when asked to tone down his anti-President Trump rhetoric, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post.

“Jimmy is incredibly pissed, and he’s a guy who never gets angry,” the source said.

The source said Disney execs are looking for a way to reinstate the late-night star while trying to balance the outrage over his comments from the right and sympathetic ABC affiliates with Hollywood’s elite left.

“I think they will reinstate him, but Jimmy could quit,” too, the source noted.

Writers Guild of America East protesting today in front of ABC’s Headquarters located at 310 Hudson Street in Manhattan. William Farrington

If that happens, the network could end up paying him out of his contract, which is reportedly $16 million a year. A source close to the situation said Kimmel has a year left on his deal.

Reps for Disney and ABC did not respond to Post requests for comment, nor did representatives for Kimmel.

The TV host surfaced Friday dressed in khaki pants, a white open-neck button-down shirt and dark shades getting into a shiny black Audi but declined comment, saying he was just “trying to go to the doctor.”

Bob Iger poses for photographers at the World premiere of the film ‘The King’s Man’ in London Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP

Disney CEO Bob Iger and Walden, who is known for her great relationships with A-listers, are in the thick of the controversy, too. They are not eager to anger either Hollywood nor the Federal Communications Commission and ABC affiliates Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcasting.

“Dana is freaking out. Very emotional. Shaken,” another source said of Walden, who has been floated as a potential successor to Iger when he steps down as CEO in 2026.

Here’s the latest on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension after Charlie Kirk comments

“She has been flamed by her liberal friends and is scared of Trump and what he could do to her CEO campaign. She’s afraid to confront stars like Jimmy and undermine her talent-friendly reputation.”

As for Iger, the source said he is “enraged” — but in true Iger-fashion — not showing it and that he thinks Kimmel needs to “de-escalate” the situation.

Around 100 people attended the WAG protest today. William Farrington

“This is a stain on his legacy,” a former ABC exec told The Post of Iger and the controversy. “This will be in the first paragraph of his obituary. It’s that bad.”

Iger’s predecessor, Michael Eisner, weighed in on the mess in a tweet Friday, praising Kimmel as “very talented and funny” and ripping the FCC for its “out-of-control intimidation” of Disney and ABC through its threats to curb the host.

Also supporting Kimmel have been late-night rivals Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Jon Stewart.

Kimmel was seen driving in his car today, just one day after he failed to make a deal with Disney to return to the air. London Entertainment for NY Post

Former “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien publicly joined Kimmel’s supporters Friday by tweeting, “The suspension of @jimmykimmel and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Right, Left, and Center.  It’s wrong and anyone with a conscience knows it’s wrong.”

Actor Ben Stiller, comedians Wanda Sykes and Marc Maron and even former President Obama have also thrown their backing behind Kimmel.

Kimmel got into trouble starting early in his monologue Monday night when he began talking about the brutal killing of Kirk at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem last week.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” the host said on his show, which is taped in front of a live audience. 

Kirk’s accused killer is a lefty trade-school student who is dating a man transitioning into a woman.

President of Disney Dana Walden attends the 28th Annual UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation’s “Taste For A Cure” event at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on May 02, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. Getty Images for UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr seized on Kimmel’s comments and told CNBC they “appeared to directly mislead” the public.

In addition, online conservatives accused Kimmel of mischaracterizing the political views of the accused shooter, Tyler Robinson, whose mother said her son had shifted toward the political left and had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”

Disney’s decision to suspend Kimmel also came after pressure from Nexstar and Sinclair, the two largest owners of ABC affiliate stations. Nexstar is currently trying to win Trump administration approval for its $6.2 billion acquisition of rival Tegna. 

Just a few hours before Kimmel’s suspension was announced, Carr, a Trump appointee, suggested that there was a “strong case” for the FCC to take action against ABC and Disney — calling Kimmel’s comments “truly sick.” 

One source noted that Kimmel could come out of this situation better off. The Daily Stardust / BACKGRID

Disney is hoping to stay on the good side of Trump and the FCC after it settled a lawsuit for $16 million with the president last year over defamatory claims by its star anchor George Stephanopoulos.

It is also hoping to maintain its reputation as a home for creative talent. But ending its relationship with Kimmel will likely do major damage.

“It’s a lose-lose situation with Kimmel and ABC,” said a former Disney exec said of the situation. “There is no good solution.”

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But one source said Kimmel could come out of this better off. The late night host, who sources told The Post has been angling to retire from his show after 22 years, has been in a ratings rut for the better part of his career.

“The truth is that Jimmy has been mired in second or third place for 22 years. He is very expensive,” the source said. “Jimmy hasn’t had more attention and interest in his entire career. He has been talking about leaving the job for years. He can take his talent to YouTube where he gets more viewers anyway.”

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. via REUTERS

Kimmel got extra support Friday from about 100 people at a protest organized by the Writers Guild of America outside the ABC Disney studios on Hudson Street in downtown Manhattan.

“It’s very possible a late-night host could say something offensive,’’ said Greg Iwinski, 40, a former writer for Colbert Show and John Oliver.

“They should genuinely apologize to who they’ve hurt in the way that they feel is appropriate to do that or they can get yelled at by their bosses or there’s plenty of things that could happen.

“But the remedy to it is not the FCC guy goes on a podcast a couple hours later, affiliate groups say we’re pulling the show, then the network pulls the show.

“The issue here is that the guy in charge of the public airwaves [Carr] said [Kimmel] should be gone, and by night time, he was gone. So that’s really the issue.’’

-Additional reporting by Erin Maher

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