Harry, Meghan join ABC Disneyland special amid Kimmel crisis

As impassioned calls grow across social media to boycott Disney and ABC over the indefinite suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and some other hapless celebrities appear to have been been hit with a case of very bad timing.

The royal duo, along with Neil Patrick Harris, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julie Andrew, Tiffany Haddish and others, are headlining an ABC News special that’s set to air Sunday night to celebrate Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. “The Happiest Story on Earth: 70 Years of Disneyland,” is described as an “in-depth” feature that offers an inside look at the history of the theme park, and the show includes testimonials from celebrities, including Harry gushing about Space Mountain.

In a promotional clip for the special, Disney CEO Bob Iger also pops in to declare, “They don’t call it the happiest place on earth for no reason.”

But Iger is not in a happy place right now. The billionaire CEO has been slammed for his “cowardice” in “bending the knee” to the Trump administration, as former ESPN Radio host Dan Le Batard said on X. Journalists and commentators Kara Swisher and Keith Olbermann flat out called Iger, who made the decision to suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” ‘a whore” and said he lacks “scruples.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of writers and actors staged a protest outside Disney’s headquarters in Burbank Thursday, while people are taking to social media, especially under the #BoycottDisney hashtag, to show screenshots of their canceled Disney subscriptions. Hundreds of “I stand with Jimmy” statements filled the comments section of just one Disney+ ad on Facebook that promoted its other streaming platforms, ESPN and Hulu.

Protest signs are displayed outside the El Capitan Theatre, home of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. Messages included “Epstien Distraction,” “Boycott Disney,” and “Protect our First Amendment,” as demonstrators rallied a day after the show’s suspension. (Photo by David Pashaee / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by DAVID PASHAEE/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images) David Pashaee — Middle East Images via AFP

The anger directed at Disney and ABC showed no signs of abating Friday morning, as Kimmel’s suspension plunged America into a searing debate about the First Amendment and concerns that President Donald Trump is using the U.S. government to silence his critics. On his “Late Show” Thursday, Stephen Colbert called the Kimmel suspension “blatant censorship” and said, “With an autocrat, you cannot give an inch.”

It also looked like anger was starting to focus on all Disney properties, including its popular theme parks.

“Heard from a friend at Disney+ that there are multiple levels of freakout internally, both from internal dissatisfaction, concerns about subscription cancelations, and of course the big one: concern about a boycott spilling over into parks and cruises,” one person wrote on BlueSky.

“Disney’s call to cancel Jimmy Kimmel made my choice easy: The family trip to Disneyland is now cancelled and we will go to Legoland in stead,” another person wrote on X, while yet another user posted a chart, showing various Disney properties.

The boycott call could also bring unwanted attention to Sunday night’s Disneyland special on ABC’s “20/20,” with celebrities who participated facing potential backlash — even if they could reasonably say that their testimonials were taped weeks or months ago.

“Supporting Disney after what they did to Jimmy Kimmel?” one person wrote Thursday in the comments section of an “exclusive” People magazine news report this week about the California-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex headlining the special.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 14: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L) chats with Disney CEO Robert Iger as Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (2nd R) embraces Beyonce Knowles-Carter (R) as they attend the European Premiere of Disney’s “The Lion King” at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 14, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Niklas Halle’n-WPA Pool/Getty Images) 

The couple are known to attract plenty of online “haters,” who already are using their participation in this ABC Disneyland special as another reason criticize them. These critics have already begun to slam them for being on the show, mostly to accuse them of getting a “freebie” family trip to Disneyland that Meghan could publicize on social media. But on Reddit, other critics are noting their “atrocious timing” in promoting a company that’s suddenly mired in controversy and boycotts.

Perhaps Harry’s controversial 2021 comments, calling the First Amendment “bonkers,” also could resurface, or people could say that the couple should speak out against Trump’s apparent role in Kimmel’s suspension, especially after Meghan made her dislike of the president well known before she married Harry.

The national debate over Kimmel’s suspension began Monday night after the late-night host used his monologue to comment on the 22-year-old Utah man, Tyler Robinson, arrested in the Sept. 10 assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. “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.”

Over the next day, right-wing anger grew over the perception that Kimmel had falsely accused the MAGA movement of being responsible for Kirk’s murder because the alleged shooter grew up in a Republican home, though charging documents show Robinson’s mother saying his politics had begun to “lean left” and he had written of Kirk, “I had enough of his hatred.” As people debated Kimmel’s intentions and whether he had just made “a mistake,” Elon Musk chimed in to call the late-night host’s comments “disgusting,” while other conservative pundits called him “evil” and said he should be fired.

On Wednesday, FCC chair Brendan Carr went on a far-right podcast to label Kimmel’s comments as “truly sick.” He also said that the U.S. government could take action against Disney and ABC because of Kimmel’s remarks. “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,” he said.

Two owners of local ABC affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair, threatened to stop airing Kimmel’s show, with Sinclair saying the comedian should apologize and “make a meaningful personal donation” to Kirk’s family and the activist’s political group, Turning Point USA. Iger and Dana Walden, Disney’s television chief, responded by suspending Kimmel, the New York Times reported. 

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, among others, called Iger’s decision to suspend Kimmel part of “the systematic destruction of free speech,” while a group organizing boycotts of Disney and ABC likewise slammed the media companies for surrendering to “state-sanctioned censorship.”

“Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t suspended because of what he said. He was suspended because the FCC threatened his employer,” Nelini Stamp, organizing director of the pro-labor union political group Working Families Party, told The Guardian. “That’s state-sanctioned censorship and it is a giant red flag … . Authoritarianism isn’t coming, it’s already here. Today it’s Jimmy. Tomorrow it’s the rest of us.”

Originally Published: September 19, 2025 at 11:17 AM PDT