Howard Stern Cancels Disney+ To Support Jimmy Kimmel, Claims He Won't 'Bow' To Government

Howard Stern announced Monday that he is canceling his Disney+ subscription in protest of ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, who was taken off the air after falsely claiming Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was tied to the "MAGA gang."

"As you know, ABC threw Jimmy [Kimmel] off the air," Stern said on his radio show. "I don’t know what their plan is, but it looks like they might be firing him. I should know. I’ve been involved in something like this, and now ABC is in the same position. It’s unfortunate they even have to be, but someone’s gotta step up and say, ‘Hey, enough, we’re not gonna bow.’ Now it might sound stupid, but the thing I did this morning is cancel my Disney+. I’m trying to say with the pocketbook that I do not support what they’re doing with Jimmy."

Howard Stern via OutKick

Stern joins celebrities including Cynthia Nixon and Noah Centineo in publicly announcing Disney+ cancellations in solidarity with Kimmel. Whether average Americans—who make up the bulk of the service’s subscribers—follow suit remains to be seen, or whether these moves are simply Hollywood publicity stunts.

Nonetheless, we are amused by Stern’s anti-establishment posture. During COVID-19, he repeatedly used his platform to call for government crackdowns on those who resisted vaccine mandates. At one point, Stern even suggested the government should punish athletes like NBA star Kyrie Irving for refusing booster shots, saying in 2021: "I don’t know who runs the Nets, but I wish they were running the country. Basically saying, ‘Listen, douchebag, you’ve got to do what is right.’"

Now, Stern claims he’ll never "bow" to government pressure.

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Further, there is still no evidence that the government forced Kimmel’s suspension. While FCC commissioner Brendan Carr did publicly call on ABC to act, Deadline reports that ABC benched Kimmel because he refused to retract his false claims about Kirk’s alleged killer and planned to further tie the violence to MAGA before his next broadcast.

Kimmel wasn’t "canceled." By all accounts, his suspension includes full pay. The idea that he's some targeted victim is cringe.

Finally, Stern’s outrage over Kimmel’s treatment contrasts sharply with his silence when the Biden administration pressured Facebook and Twitter to remove posts critical of the White House in 2021 through 2023. Unlike the Kimmel case, this was not a matter of speculation. Internal documents from Twitter and testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg show the government was directly involved in restricting ordinary Americans’ speech online.