Last fall Disney suspended Jimmy Kimmel, caved to the Left, and handed him the biggest audience of his career.
They thought that was the end of it.
And Bill O'Reilly just backed Disney into a corner they have no way out of.
Trump and Melania Trump Call for Kimmel to Be Fired
Alleged comedian Jimmy Kimmel opened a fresh wound last week when he looked into the camera and told Melania Trump she had "a glow like an expectant widow."
Two days later a gunman rushed the Washington Hilton ballroom where the President and First Lady were seated at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Trump called it "far beyond the pale" and demanded Disney fire Kimmel immediately.
Melania called it "hateful and violent rhetoric intended to divide our country."
Bill O'Reilly appeared on NewsNation's Katie Pavlich Tonight and went straight at Disney.
How ABC Affiliates Could Force Disney to Pull Jimmy Kimmel Live
O'Reilly wondered what the point of keeping Kimmel on the air was.
"You're not making money off Kimmel, very few people watch him. You polarize the whole country. People take it out on you and your revenue goes down. Why are you doing this? Is there a reason? I'd like to know the economic reason. Social reason? Do you think The View is fair?"
Disney hasn't offered an answer.
O'Reilly wasn't buying Kimmel's defense that the widow crack was just a joke. "He's not a comedian, he's not a satirist, he's there to hate President Trump. Disney knows that."
And Disney runs two operations – Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The View – built on exactly that premise.
The First Amendment protects them.
But nothing forces Disney to keep paying for it.
O'Reilly didn't just criticize Disney – he told them exactly how this ends.
"Disney is defiant. So what has to happen now is that the affiliated stations gotta dump him."
He's seen this movie before.
Last fall, after Kimmel's remarks about Charlie Kirk, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned ABC affiliates directly – "we can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Nexstar and Sinclair, controlling roughly a quarter of ABC's station groups, pulled Kimmel off the air.
Disney suspended the show.
Then they reversed course six days later, Kimmel came back swinging, and his return monologue broke his all-time YouTube record with 20 million views.
O'Reilly's point is that the affiliates are the pressure point – not Disney corporate, not the White House, not Trump's Truth Social posts.
When the local stations walk, Disney has no choice.
Disney Is Running an Unregistered Democrat Super PAC and Calling It a TV Show
Disney's new CEO Josh D'Amaro – who replaced Bob Iger just last month – now owns every bit of this.
He's been on the job for weeks and already has Trump, Melania, Karoline Leavitt, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and Bill O'Reilly pointing at the same problem.
O'Reilly was direct about what Disney is actually doing.
"This is hate. That's what this is, and Disney is trafficking in hate, and they're not alone."
Disney suspended Kimmel over Charlie Kirk – he came back to 20 million YouTube views and the biggest audience of his career.
Every time they blink, he gets stronger.
Disney is running an unregistered Democrat Super PAC on television and writing its star a bigger check every time it tries to shut him up.
They run The View on the same logic – keep the anti-Trump content flowing, absorb the backlash, write the checks.
D'Amaro just inherited that operation.
O'Reilly's question was simple – why?
Disney doesn't have an answer because there isn't one.
Sources:
- Charlie Nash, "Bill O'Reilly Demands Jimmy Kimmel's Show Be Shut Down for 'Hate' Speech," Mediaite, April 28, 2026.
- "Trumps Call for ABC to Fire Jimmy Kimmel," PBS NewsHour, April 27, 2026.
- "Trump Calls on ABC to Fire Kimmel After 'Expectant Widow' Joke," Deadline, April 28, 2026.
- "Melania Trump Wants ABC to 'Take a Stand' Against Jimmy Kimmel," NPR, April 27, 2026.
- "Suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!," Wikipedia, updated April 28, 2026.