Speaker 1: Hey, they're folks. It is Monday, September twenty second. Then
Speaker 1: the news keeps coming. Yes, Jimmy Kimmel is coming back
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Welcome to this episode of Amy and DJ Robes.
Speaker 1: A little quick, I thought, I thought this was a
Speaker 1: quick change of heart by Disney. But it's official. He's
Speaker 1: going to come back on Tuesday night, Tabarna.
Speaker 2: It was quick, but there was a lot of pressure
Speaker 2: because there were from the very next day after they
Speaker 2: made their decision, protests going on at Burbank and a
Speaker 2: lot of employees, and you had some big name celebrities
Speaker 2: step up and say that they actually, I believe, signed
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was a petition, but certainly
Speaker 2: signed yes, a letter saying that they were demanding that
Speaker 2: kim will be reinstated, that free speech was at stake,
Speaker 2: and so they had a lot of pressure coming at
Speaker 2: them from the other side as well. So Bob Iger
Speaker 2: and folks made their decision.
Speaker 1: The pressure so much of the pressure. It didn't feel
Speaker 1: necessarily financially. It felt like a moral pressure. It felt
Speaker 1: like a a significant like this is time to take
Speaker 1: a free speech stand. It was more of a pressure,
Speaker 1: not necessarily from a financial standpoint, But from what is
Speaker 1: the right thing to do here?
Speaker 2: I was just gonna say I felt like it was
Speaker 2: one hundred percent a do the right thing pressure from
Speaker 2: the people who are still important to the company. So
Speaker 2: I yeah, I don't think it was a financial decision
Speaker 2: at all. I don't know what that financial decision would
Speaker 2: be because there are going to be people who boycott
Speaker 2: the show regardless, and perhaps even boycott ABC or Disney.
Speaker 2: I mean, the problem is, you're not just ABC. When
Speaker 2: you're Disney, You're you need everybody. You need the whole
Speaker 2: country to come and see your movies, you need the
Speaker 2: whole country to come to your theme parks, you need
Speaker 2: the entire country. Company is sorry country to go and
Speaker 2: ride on your cruise ships. So it's important that they
Speaker 2: don't alienate half the country, the people who voted for
Speaker 2: Trump by putting Kimmel back on the air. That is
Speaker 2: a big deal. So that is there is a lot
Speaker 2: of money at stake.
Speaker 1: So all good. Disney announced, right, they pulled him last
Speaker 1: Wednesday after remarks he made last Monday. And here we
Speaker 1: are the following Monday, knowing he's going to go back
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, but we don't know what he's going.
Speaker 2: To say what he's agreed to, what Disney insisted he
Speaker 2: agreed to.
Speaker 1: We don't know was the negotiation, like there had to
Speaker 1: be something he had to compromise a little bit. But
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who will argue, who
Speaker 1: know him an insiders say, yeah, we don't see that happening.
Speaker 1: So I'm not sure what the agreement is. But Disney
Speaker 1: did put out a statement letting us all know, I
Speaker 1: guess kind of how things went down, giving us some
Speaker 1: insight into what they were thinking and an into bringing
Speaker 1: him back. Now.
Speaker 2: Yes, so they said, last Wednesday, we made the decision
Speaker 2: to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming
Speaker 2: a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.
Speaker 2: It is a decision we made because we felt some
Speaker 2: of the comments were ill timed and thus insensitive. We
Speaker 2: have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy,
Speaker 2: and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return
Speaker 2: the show on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Right now, there is going to be and there has
Speaker 1: been already some pushback. There's already been some criticism of
Speaker 1: this decision from as you can imagine, turning point USA,
Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk's foundation, his group has already spoken out about this,
Speaker 1: and I think there are a lot of people on
Speaker 1: that side who will see this as he barely got
Speaker 1: a slap on the wrist, right, He's only missed a
Speaker 1: couple of days of taping and he's right back on
Speaker 1: the air, and the show when he comes back on
Speaker 1: the air after all this, it's going to be the
Speaker 1: highest rated show in the history of his show, quite possibly,
Speaker 1: because everybody's going to tune and see what he has
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, so here is what turning Point USA said.
Speaker 2: They said, Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back
Speaker 2: on the air is not surprising, but it's their mistake
Speaker 2: to make. Then they said, Next Star and Sinclair do
Speaker 2: not have to make the same choice, and.
Speaker 1: Ding ding ding. So let's go with Sinclair first as
Speaker 1: we speak this evening, as of this recording, Sinclair, which
Speaker 1: is the largest owner of ABC stations in the country.
Speaker 1: They are the ones who own the stations that put
Speaker 1: on this show, and they are the ones who made
Speaker 1: the decision even before Disney, Next Star and Sinclair, these
Speaker 1: two companies that own ABC affiliates, they made the decision
Speaker 1: to pull the show off the air. They were not
Speaker 1: going to put it on our stations because of what
Speaker 1: he said Sinclair. Even though Disney said they're him back,
Speaker 1: Sinclair says they will not put his show on at
Speaker 1: least tomorrow night, and he's going to be preempty.
Speaker 2: Yes, so Sinclair owns thirty eight ABC stations. That is
Speaker 2: a lot of cities, So I think thirty eight cities.
Speaker 2: Even though ABC and Disney are airing the show, they
Speaker 2: will not be able to see it through their local affiliate.
Speaker 2: Here's what Sinclair said. Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be
Speaker 2: pre emptying Jimmy Kimmel Live across our ABC affiliate stations
Speaker 2: and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are
Speaker 2: ongoing as we evaluate the show's potential return. They want
Speaker 2: more and they may demand more.
Speaker 1: They made demands initially. We don't know if this is
Speaker 1: still a part of the deal because afterwards they said
Speaker 1: they wanted an apology one and a donation, a significant
Speaker 1: donation to Charlie Kirk's family or his organization. I couldn't see,
Speaker 1: couldn't imagine that happening, But we don't know if those
Speaker 1: demands still hold Next Star. As of this recording, we
Speaker 1: have not heard from, so we do not know what
Speaker 1: they are going to do if they follow suit with Sinclair.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of cities and not going to see
Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel.
Speaker 2: Demoin, Yeah, I believe they have dozens, so at least
Speaker 2: two dozens. So now you're talking about if they stick together,
Speaker 2: potentially as many as close to sixty, yes, sixty stations.
Speaker 2: Cities won't be able to see Jimmy Kimmel aive. That's
Speaker 2: pretty remarkable. I don't know. With today's technology and Hulu,
Speaker 2: I'm sure you can find a way, but that is
Speaker 2: still going to cost. You say there'll be record numbers. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 2: for people who can watch, they might have record ratings,
Speaker 2: or they might not because they because of the preemptions
Speaker 2: they get back.
Speaker 1: Right now, if he's not going to be available in
Speaker 1: enough cities to have record.
Speaker 2: Rating, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, yeah, so I take that back. Yes, you're right,
Speaker 1: sick Claire. And next they joined together in this, when
Speaker 1: when does he come back to those stations? What does
Speaker 1: he ever have to do? Look, I am it's amazing
Speaker 1: that and I think it's kind of cool to some
Speaker 1: degree that late night television that we're all engaged in
Speaker 1: a conversation about free speech the First Amendment because late
Speaker 1: night television and the White House are going at it,
Speaker 1: I think there's something. I know it's silly to some degree,
Speaker 1: but I think it's fascinating that we never had When
Speaker 1: do we get a chance to have free speech conversations.
Speaker 1: It's there, none of the fringes in here and there,
Speaker 1: you can find it. But everybody is talking about this,
Speaker 1: and everybody seems to be on the same page that
Speaker 1: this matters, and that you can't silence somebody.
Speaker 2: It does matter. And I do think that I have
Speaker 2: always said, you know, if you have ever been to
Speaker 2: any of the awards ceremonies for the Society of the
Speaker 2: Protection of Journalists and you sit in one of these
Speaker 2: they have these bank and you hear the stories of
Speaker 2: journalists in other countries who say or have a negative
Speaker 2: report about a president, or they say something that's unflattering
Speaker 2: about their leader and they're killed. And you hear story
Speaker 2: after story after story when you're in these banquets, and
Speaker 2: I remember, you know, years ago, thinking my god, how
Speaker 2: incredible that I could say something awful about the president
Speaker 2: and I could sleep soundly at night knowing that my
Speaker 2: job is safe, that my family is safe, that my
Speaker 2: head is safe. You know, that really is something that
Speaker 2: I thought about often. So look, you start to see
Speaker 2: things start to head in that direction, and it gets really,
Speaker 2: really frightening. We have this story today about restrictions on
Speaker 2: reporters at the Pentagon. They can't report anything negative Jimmy
Speaker 2: Kimmel late night talk show hosts can't take shots at
Speaker 2: the president. When I used to watch that, when I
Speaker 2: used to stay up late, I remember thinking, Wow, what
Speaker 2: a country we live in that people can stand on
Speaker 2: TV and make fun of our leaders and have zero
Speaker 2: concerns about their physical safety or about losing anything like
Speaker 2: That's what makes us America. That's what makes us free.
Speaker 1: We've been in places where they warn you ahead of time,
Speaker 1: be careful what you say, be careful what you text.
Speaker 1: Would your tweet be right?
Speaker 2: China, Russia?
Speaker 1: Yes, it's amazing just the freedom we have here that
Speaker 1: now we need to be concerned before we open our mouths.
Speaker 1: It's a weird place for us to be in. Like repercussions,
Speaker 1: you lose your job, there's a whole sta like a
Speaker 1: whole staff of people and their families just out of
Speaker 1: a job because the president literally can't take a joke. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're a Trump supporter, you don't see it as such, right,
Speaker 1: it's not. You see it as a guy who doesn't
Speaker 1: have your same views having airwaves to spew his side.
Speaker 1: And you're again, I can see why that's bothered.
Speaker 2: But you can turn it off, you can change the channel,
Speaker 2: you can watch something else, and if enough people do that,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Kimmel or anyone else would absolutely be out of
Speaker 2: a job. I mean, you're seeing what's happening with Colbert.
Speaker 2: We don't know if it is just about the ratings
Speaker 2: or if there is something else going on with that,
Speaker 2: but that's how you But that's the point. You know,
Speaker 2: you don't have to like what people say. You don't
Speaker 2: have to think it's funny. You can actually be upset
Speaker 2: by it. But your power is with your remote.
Speaker 1: See But that's the President's make an argument, and not
Speaker 1: that I don't want to watch it, or if somebody
Speaker 1: else doesn't want to watch it, Like, you shouldn't have
Speaker 1: the right to be able to go out there and
Speaker 1: do it. You shouldn't have the right to spew propaganda
Speaker 1: against me is how he's seeing it. So it's not
Speaker 1: even a matter of yet just turn off the TV. Yes,
Speaker 1: there's plenty things. I got no problem with anything on
Speaker 1: TV because I ain't watching it. Fine, everybody can take
Speaker 1: the attitude, But what is it? What do we do
Speaker 1: if you turn it into now a matter of if
Speaker 1: you're not vote with you remote, I am telling you
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't have you shouldn't have the He even
Speaker 1: suggested that it's unlawful to insult him.
Speaker 2: Obviously it's not. Obviously that's what makes it an US America.
Speaker 2: I mean, he insults people every day, I mean, and
Speaker 2: is proud of it. So I just I find that
Speaker 2: a little ironic.
Speaker 1: All right, So with this all goes back to last week?
Speaker 1: Do you remember, and we have to go back, and
Speaker 1: I had to include it in here what Jimmy Kimmel
Speaker 1: actually said They got all this going now he said it,
Speaker 1: and then what was it? Two days later? The FCC
Speaker 1: head said something and that's what got it all going.
Speaker 1: So let's remind you, first of all, this is what
Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel said that got everybody going.
Speaker 2: We hit some new lows over the weekend with the
Speaker 2: Maga Gang, desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered
Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and
Speaker 2: doing everything they can score political points from it.
Speaker 1: So that was it, said it on Monday. Tuesday, things
Speaker 1: seemed to be going fine, right, and.
Speaker 2: He actually doubled down and had some more.
Speaker 1: Jokes on Tuesday. Right, everything's going fine, FCC chairman. However,
Speaker 1: Brendan Carr went on a podcast on Wednesday and suggested
Speaker 1: that Kimmel in his comments and that maybe he should
Speaker 1: be looked into. And sure enough, next thing we know,
Speaker 1: Kimmel is suspended indefinitely. Is what they told us initially. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am to be honest with you, A I am
Speaker 1: is really really surprised that this is happening so quickly.
Speaker 2: I am surprised that ABC and Disney made the decision
Speaker 2: they have. I'm not surprised that Saint Clair has it.
Speaker 2: I mean they did say I think it was next
Speaker 2: Star and See Claire said that he was going to
Speaker 2: be off of their stations for the foreseeable future. That's
Speaker 2: a little bit more. I think that's a little stronger language.
Speaker 2: For seeable future means more than a few days. That
Speaker 2: seems like they had plans to have a little bit
Speaker 2: longer of a pun.
Speaker 1: Damn, what is your hope? I say that to the
Speaker 1: audience here, Robot, I say that to you, and I
Speaker 1: asked that question to myself as well. So let's take
Speaker 1: a beat when we come back. What is it that
Speaker 1: we hope that? Jimmy Kimmel says in his monologue tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Night, Welcome back everyone on this Monday night. We are
Speaker 2: talking Jimmy Kimmel because ABC Disney did an about face
Speaker 2: and they are putting the show back on Tomorrow night,
Speaker 2: Tuesday evening. He was suspended last Wednesdays, so less than
Speaker 2: a week he's been off the air. But he's not
Speaker 2: going to be back on the air for everyone because
Speaker 2: the largest ABC owned affiliate group, Sinclair, has said they
Speaker 2: will not they will pre empt Jimmy Kimmel's show tomorrow
Speaker 2: and for the foreseeable future. And they have thirty eight
Speaker 2: stations next Star we haven't heard yet from, but they're
Speaker 2: also in the double digits, and they haven't decided whether
Speaker 2: or not, or at least they haven't let any of
Speaker 2: us know whether or not they will be preempting Jimmy
Speaker 2: Kimmel or not. But he is going who to make
Speaker 2: that monologue and this will be the I would say
Speaker 2: this would be the most important monologue of his career.
Speaker 1: I would say it's important for the country, and it's
Speaker 1: it's I guess we're in this position, but a late
Speaker 1: night comedian actually has an important role to play in
Speaker 1: bringing the country together and helping us move forward and
Speaker 1: how we talk to each other. I don't know what
Speaker 1: way he's going to go, And some people would say
Speaker 1: he needs to double down, and he needs to be tough,
Speaker 1: and he needs to be a warrior of some kind
Speaker 1: and that's what the country needs. Some could argue that, well,
Speaker 1: this could say, you need to bring the temperature down.
Speaker 1: I don't know which way do you.
Speaker 2: Lean, uh, temperature down? I don't think we fight fire
Speaker 2: with fire. And I think he obviously touched a nerve
Speaker 2: and I think if you go back and look at
Speaker 2: at what he said, it doesn't sound terrible. Obviously he
Speaker 2: said much worse about Donald Trump, but in the days,
Speaker 2: in the few days following Charlie Kirk's assassination, I think
Speaker 2: I think it's okay for him to apologize for how
Speaker 2: soon he went there and the tone he took. The
Speaker 2: flippant kind of maybe some would even say righteous, arrogant
Speaker 2: kind of attitude he had about it when people were
Speaker 2: deeply mourning this man. So I think it's I think
Speaker 2: it's absolutely fair for him to apologize for the timing
Speaker 2: and the tone.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know if I expect an apology, and
Speaker 1: who is he apologizing to.
Speaker 2: Anyone who he offended?
Speaker 1: Anyone who weened.
Speaker 2: And that wasn't his intention his but but the part
Speaker 2: of being a comedian, and I think we all know this,
Speaker 2: it is to be provocative. It is to go there,
Speaker 2: it is to But in all of this political correctness,
Speaker 2: it's funny with the anti woke campaign from the right
Speaker 2: and the Trump administration, this is feeling very woke of
Speaker 2: them because now he has to apologize for offending so
Speaker 2: he doesn't get canceled, which is the whole woke thing.
Speaker 2: So it's just kind of turned around now on Kimmel,
Speaker 2: and it's I find the irony in it.
Speaker 1: Actually, Generally, as a rule, I don't I don't like
Speaker 1: when comedians apologize. They're just a special group to whatever
Speaker 1: reason that they are. Just they just it's what they do.
Speaker 1: They're supposed to push buttons and you have to understand
Speaker 1: that this is what they're doing and being prepocative. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's insensitive. I get that, Jimmy Kimmel, what he said,
Speaker 1: I was uncomfortable with some of it. The stuff that
Speaker 1: they actually got him on is not the part that
Speaker 1: I actually thought was most offensive. I thought he made
Speaker 1: a joke after that about how Trump.
Speaker 2: Was mourning him like a four year old mourns a
Speaker 2: gold goldfish.
Speaker 1: I thought that I thought was tough for me, was
Speaker 1: more uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, same than what he said.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's not getting any attention.
Speaker 2: So what do you hope he does tomorrow?
Speaker 1: Man? I hope I Jimmy's I really do believe in
Speaker 1: the limited time I've spent with him, he's a good dude.
Speaker 1: He is just he's just generally a good dude, and
Speaker 1: he's a family guy, and I know he feels I
Speaker 1: really do genuinely feel that he appreciates and how blessed
Speaker 1: he is to be where he is and to have
Speaker 1: the family that he had. I think he really does
Speaker 1: see how blessed he is, and I I just I
Speaker 1: hope he sees the moment as an opportunity to be wild,
Speaker 1: as it seems the leader kind of that we all
Speaker 1: need right now, Just somebody please guide us with a microphone,
Speaker 1: guide us in a better way than the guy in Sacramento,
Speaker 1: California with a guy in Washington, DC. Right, don't I
Speaker 1: don't want on. The fighting and the barking and the
Speaker 1: constant is exhausting, and just somebody in the middle of
Speaker 1: the fight to say, you know what, I'm not waving
Speaker 1: a white flag. I'm just inviting you to the table.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I'm not going to contribute to this anymore.
Speaker 1: And others are saying, you have to stand up to
Speaker 1: this tyrants. You gotta fight fire with fire and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. It's just exhausting. We're kicking the shit out
Speaker 1: of each other and get nowhere. That is why I
Speaker 1: hope he does something that brings.
Speaker 2: That he unites instead of further divid I got it
Speaker 2: without apologizing.
Speaker 1: To find a way apology. I don't mind it, but
Speaker 1: I don't need it.
Speaker 2: But you weren't the one who he offended, so that
Speaker 2: might be the difference. That's why you don't need it.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know what ABC and Disney would have insisted upon.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm not sure about. So even if Kimmel
Speaker 2: wouldn't have wanted to and really really really doesn't want
Speaker 2: to say or do something he may have to. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure. I don't know. He is a powerful dude.
Speaker 2: We said he was certainly one of, if not the
Speaker 2: most powerful person in front of the camera at ABC.
Speaker 2: But at a certain point, business is business, and so
Speaker 2: he's they had to come to some sort of agreement.
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is, but I will be
Speaker 2: very interested in finding out. I'm also curious about this.
Speaker 2: They tape at five pm New York time, Eastern East
Speaker 2: Eastern time.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, no specific time.
Speaker 2: So I wonder, you know, how things get leaked. I
Speaker 2: wonder if we'll start to hear that he apologized or
Speaker 2: he didn't, or close think about that. Is he going
Speaker 2: to do it live or is he going to pretape
Speaker 2: it as usual? Because I feel like it'll get out.
Speaker 2: Everyone's going to be clamoring to find out what he's
Speaker 2: going to say, what his tone is going to be,
Speaker 2: who his guests are going to be, like, what is
Speaker 2: and what does that show look like? Coming back after
Speaker 2: what just happens.
Speaker 1: And he has an opportunity as well to be hilarious.
Speaker 1: He could do just the most brilliant bits and just
Speaker 1: make us all laugh. This thing away. Who knows, but
Speaker 1: it's an important moment and it's I just think it's
Speaker 1: remarkable that one of the most important voices right now
Speaker 1: in politics is a late night comedian. I love that.
Speaker 1: It's just something about that. It's just fascinating, and I
Speaker 1: love the story.
Speaker 2: Well, we will be watching. We know you will too.
Speaker 2: But thank you for listening this evening, I maybe Robach
Speaker 2: alongside TJ. Holmes. Have a great night, everybody,