Why boycott? Indivisible has called for a national boycott after Disney’s CEO Bob Iger (who’s worth about $700 million btw) bent a knee to “a third-rate mob boss, FCC Chair issued a public threat to ‘take action’ against stations airing Jimmy Kimmel for a joke that offended the regime. His actual words: ‘We can do this the easy way, or the hard way’”. Per Indivisible, “It’s on use to prove them wrong and show there’s a price to sacrificing out First Amendment rights at the altar of corporate profit”.
Many of us in our town love SU football and basketball. Although, we really love Free Speech and a Free Press more. As much as we’d love to watch the games, we’re sit them out until Jimmy Kimmel returns to the air or has the violation of his Free Speech corrected with Justice. ESPN also owns the ACC Network, so watching that isn’t an option. With the SU basketball season coming up, we hope this is resolved. If it is not, as disappointing as it may be, all we have to do is remind ourselves that in our nearly 250-year history as a nation, we have never been so close to losing our democracy to authoritarianism. If we remind ourselves of this existential threat and our collective purpose in this moment, not watching SU football and basketball becomes the tiniest of sacrifices.
Alternative product: Netflix. After 47’s assault on and funding cuts to public media, Netflix moved to offer Sesame Street and PBS Kids voice on their platform. Also, Netflix recently donated $2 Million to California’s redistricting response to Texas’ election theft gerrymandering.
Call to action: Cancel Disney, Hulu, and ESPN subscriptions until Jimmy Kimmel is reinstated. Peacefully protest in person where you can and join us on 10/18 for No Kings Day. Use #BoycottDisneyABC for your socials.