BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MAY 02: Jimmy Kimmel 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. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation)
Getty Images for UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation
A petition campaign from MoveOn is seeing a surge in sign-ups in response to ABC’s suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. In fact, within just 24 hours of launching, the petition drew more than 100,000 signatures from supporters demanding that ABC and Disney reinstate Kimmel — putting it in striking distance of being MoveOn’s fastest-growing petition of 2025 (as of Sunday afternoon, the petition had garnered around 154,000 signatures).
The effort comes after ABC abruptly pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air last week following threats from the Trump administration. Kimmel drew that ire after criticizing conservatives’ response to the murder of activist Charlie Kirk, leading ABC to abruptly bench him and leave the future of both the host and his show in limbo.
MoveOn Jimmy Kimmel petition goes viral
With Kimmel now at the epicenter over a larger debate over free speech, MoveOn also decided to roll out an even more visible form of protest over the weekend in addition to launching the petition. It came in the form of a mobile billboard truck, which circled several Los Angeles landmarks over the weekend including the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard as well as Disney’s Glendale offices.
Among the messages it displayed: “We’re with Jimmy and free speech.”
“We’re with Jimmy” Jimmy Kimmel mobile billboard in Los Angeles.
MoveOn
MoveOn, for its part, says the campaign is about more than one TV host. In a statement, spokesperson Britt Jacovich described Kimmel’s suspension as accelerating a “dangerous slide into authoritarianism.”
What started all this is Kimmel using a monologue to argue that conservatives were trying to score political points from Kirk’s murder. FCC chair Brendan Carr weighed in, accusing Kimmel of “news distortion” and warning that Disney could face consequences if it didn’t address the situation. Nexstar Media Group, which broadcasts ABC programming in dozens of markets (and is awaiting FCC approval for a merger with the broadcaster Tegna), eventually announced it would preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely.
Disney and ABC made the suspension official soon after.
On MoveOn’s petition page, organizers describe Kimmel’s ouster as “a blatant attack on free speech.” The petition urges Disney to reverse its decision and prove that it values free expression over toeing the government’s line.
For now, Kimmel’s show remains off the air, with reruns filling the time slot. Meanwhile, here’s one more underreported angle to the story that’s worth following, courtesy of Rick Ellis’ “Too Much TV” newsletter:
Some critics of Disney-owned ABC’s actions here might assume the fallout to all this would show up in Disney+ cancellations. But reporting from Ellis over the weekend suggests Disney could be facing an even bigger and more painful hit: A source inside Disney’s resorts business told Ellis that angry guests are scrapping bookings — a trend that could very quickly cut much deeper into Disney’s bottom line than streaming churn (his full report is here).
“…These guests can’t be talked out of it,” the source told him. “The ones I talk to have mostly been nice, but just crushed. I keep hearing how disappointed they are and how they don’t know if they’ll ever see us the same way. It’s worse than COVID, if that’s possible.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2025/09/21/petition-demanding-jimmy-kimmels-return-surges-past-150000-signatures/
