MW Boycott Disney over pulling Jimmy Kimmel? Why the company will likely fare better than Tesla and Bud Light did.

By Lukas I. Alpert

Politically driven boycotts against Tesla, Bud Light and Cracker Barrel have had an impact, but Disney's audience is much larger, possibly making it better positioned to absorb the fallout

Disney pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air over comments surrounding conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which prompted calls from the left to boycott the company.

Walt Disney Co.'s decision to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air at ABC after the Trump administration criticized his remarks on the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has sparked calls online for a boycott of Disney's streaming services.

Social media was flooded Thursday morning with posts from people saying they had canceled their subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ - a response to what they viewed as Disney $(DIS)$ caving under political pressure from the White House.

"Hit them where it hurts: the $$$," political activist Brian Krassenstein wrote on X.

Similar politically driven boycotts in the past against Tesla Inc. $(TSLA)$, Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A.'s (BE:ABI) Bud Light and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. $(CBRL)$ have had an impact. While a broad boycott could have a short-term impact on Disney, analysts argue that its size and the expansiveness of its audience make it better positioned to absorb the fallout.

"The ripple effects of this could be meaningful if there are widespread cancellations, but it would likely be a short-term problem," said media analyst Doug Arthur of Huber Research Partners. "The Disney streaming platforms are probably large enough now, and enough of the subscribers are international to enable them to sustain through a boycott."

Still, streaming subscriber growth remains a key metric for many investors, so a drop in those numbers - even in the short-term - could cause problems for Disney's stock, Arthur said.

Disney shares were trading down about 1.1% in morning trading on Thursday. Messages left with representatives for Disney weren't immediately returned.

In 2023, Bud Light saw its sales decline by $1.4 billion and the company's market capitalization drop by $27 billion following a boycott of the brand by conservatives angry over its use of a transgender comedian in an advertising campaign.

Tesla has seen its sales drop 13% year-over-year as its liberal-leaning clientele was angered by its chief executive, Elon Musk, embracing President Donald Trump and far-right politicians abroad.

Cracker Barrel reported a decline in revenue and an 8% drop in store visits after a makeover of its logo and stores angered its customers.

In all, Disney reported having 183 million Disney+ and Hulu subscribers worldwide at the end of its third fiscal quarter which ended in June. That marked an 8% increase from the same period a year earlier, with about half of that gain coming from overseas.

Any boycott of Disney's theme parks and cruise business would be slower to materialize, as most bookings are made well in advance. Those businesses also attract a substantial number of foreign visitors who might be less attuned to domestic politics, Arthur said.

The move to drop Kimmel has sparked heavy criticism from within Hollywood, from Democrats and free speech advocates, who say pressure from the administration amounts to an assault on free speech.

ABC announced that it was pulling Kimmel's show indefinitely late Wednesday after remarks Kimmel made about Kirk's death and Trump drew a rebuke from the administration, which threatened to take action against the network's affiliates if steps weren't taken.

On Monday's broadcast, Kimmel said of Kirk's killing last week: "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

"In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving," he said.

Kimmel joked that Trump had mourned Kirk "the way a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish," after Trump pivoted to the construction of a ballroom at the White House when asked about how the activist's death made him feel.

On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take action against broadcasters and their affiliates if steps weren't taken to rein in Kimmel.

"I think it's past time these [affiliates] themselves push back and say, 'Listen, we're not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out because we're running the possibility of license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion,'" Carr said on conservative commentator Benny Jonhson's YouTube show.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said. "These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."

That led to an affiliate revolt with Nexstar Media Group Inc. $(NXST)$, which operates 33 ABC affiliates, and Sinclair Inc. $(SBGI)$, which owns about 30, saying they intended to indefinitely drop Kimmel's show, forcing Disney's hand.

Nexstar is in the midst of a merger deal to acquire Tegna Inc. (TGNA) for $6.2 billion, which would require a major rule change that Carr has vowed to make happen.

Opponents have said the rule - which limits the number of households any one channel owner could reach - would require an act of Congress to change.

-Lukas I. Alpert

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September 18, 2025 12:43 ET (16:43 GMT)

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