(Reuters) -A group of Walt Disney shareholders is demanding that the company turn over documents related to its decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show last week, Semafor reported on Wednesday.
Kimmel returned to the air Tuesday night, six days after his remarks about the accused killer of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk provoked social media outrage and pressure from the Trump administration.
In a letter to the media giant, lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, labor giant AFL-CIO and Reporters Without Borders — all Disney shareholders — requested it to turn over board records related to Kimmel’s suspension, Semafor said.
The group criticized the decision to suspend the comedian, according to the report. Investors were entitled to investigate whether Disney’s leaders “did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties” in deciding to bench Kimmel amid threats from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
The shareholders are pushing for documents, including any materials that estimate the impact of Kimmel’s suspension on Disney’s revenue and copies of agreements with affiliate networks Nexstar and Sinclair, whose initial threats to black out the show appear to have sparked his suspension, the report said.
The groups’ lawyers suggested they would sue for the records if Disney does not share information related to the suspension in five business days, according to Semafor.
Disney, the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO and Reporters Without Borders did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The monologue Jimmy Kimmel delivered on his return to late-night television had been seen nearly 19 million times on Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram by early Wednesday afternoon.
ABC affiliates in several major markets did not carry the show, which aired hours after Disney lifted Kimmel’s suspension.
Nexstar and Sinclair both opted to keep “Jimmy Kimmel Live” off their combined 70 owned and operated ABC stations.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)
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