John Oliver slams Disney chief Iger over Kimmel ouster, warns history will remember the cowards

Comedian John Oliver used his HBO program Last Week Tonight to criticize Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, arguing that history will remember leaders who yield to political pressure. Oliver delivered the remarks on his Sunday broadcast, framing the move as a showcase of weakness in the face of calls from the Trump era’s political dynamics. He urged Iger to take a stand, saying history will judge those who knew better but chose easy or comfortable paths.

Oliver pressed the point on the show, saying, “Look, at some point you’re going to have to draw a line. So I’d argue, why not draw it right here?” He added that executives should resist what he described as “stupid, ridiculous demands,” urging leaders to stand up with four words they don’t tend to teach in business school: “F— you, make me.” The remarks came after ABC suspended Kimmel “indefinitely” following his comments that accused right-wing voices of politicizing Charlie Kirk’s assassination and suggested the killer could be a MAGA conservative. A short time earlier, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested there was a “strong case” for action against ABC and its Disney parent.

Oliver likened Carr’s warnings to the words of a Mafia boss, saying the sequence of events could be seen as government pressure on a private company to censor speech. He referenced Carr’s public stance as part of a broader pattern, noting that Trump’s team had signaled similar pressure. “That’s pretty clear,” Oliver said, “it’s like if someone threw a brick through your window with a message that said, shut up or else, then followed it up with more clarifying bricks saying, by or else we mean we will hurt you physically, then this is the mafia, by the way, followed by, you know, like in ‘Goodfellas.’”

Oliver also targeted Nexstar and Sinclair, two of ABC’s major local-station owners, for pulling Kimmel off the air. He argued that Carr’s approach put broadcasters in a bind, and that the networks complied in part by citing Carr’s comments. “Basically, Brendan Carr said jump, and Nexstar took his d— out of their mouth for just long enough to say, ‘How high exactly?’” Oliver said. The remarks underscored what he depicted as a coordinated move to silence Kimmel across multiple markets. Carr has since sent playful GIFs to media outlets in response to inquiries about Kimmel’s suspension, including images from popular television shows as a form of public commentary.

The day after Kimmel’s suspension, then-President Donald Trump publicly cheered the ouster and suggested the government might start revoking broadcast licenses from networks that are largely opposed to him. He said that ultimately the decision would be up to Carr, who had previously called Kimmel’s monologue “truly sick.” During Kimmel’s opening monologue on Monday, he framed the political climate around the episode and criticized the MAGA movement for its portrayal of the incident.

Oliver’s critique followed ongoing reporting about the broader political and regulatory pressures shaping entertainment media. Carr denied that his calls for ABC to act against Kimmel were tied to anti-Trump politics, arguing that networks with licenses have an obligation to serve the public interest and that Kimmel had appeared to mislead the public. Separately, court documents filed in the aftermath of the incident noted that the mother of Tyler Robinson—described in filings as having a political tilt—told investigators her son had become more political and leaned more to the left, a detail that has intersected with the ongoing investigations.

The episode illustrates how entertainment, media ownership, and political pressure can intersect in high-profile late-night programs, with Oliver framing the events as a test of leadership and accountability in a polarized environment. The conversation continues to unfold as networks navigate licensing, public interest obligations, and external political scrutiny, underscoring the volatility of today’s media landscape, where talk-show hosts, corporate executives, and regulators are all contending over where lines should be drawn in the name of free speech and public responsibility.