Disney shareholders demand company documents on Jimmy Kimmel suspension

Disney shareholders have threatened to sue the company if it did not turn over all documents related to the entertainment giant’s decision to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over his comments about the Charlie Kirk assassination, according to a report.

Lawyers representing the American Federation of Teachers, Reporters Without Borders, Inc. and other shareholder groups pressed Disney to release board records surrounding Kimmel’s suspension, the news site Semafor reported on Thursday. The Post confirmed the existence of the letter.

The letter, written in coordination with the Democracy Defenders Fund, accused the company of bowing to political pressure and warned executives may have breached their fiduciary duty by sidelining Kimmel.

“Although we are pleased that ABC did the right thing and put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air last night, due to the Trump administration’s continued threats to free speech, including with respect to ABC, we are writing to seek transparency into the initial decision to suspend him and his show,” the letter said.

The shareholders wrote that they have “credible basis” to “suspect that the Board and executives may have breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by placing improper political or affiliate considerations above the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.”

Shares of Disney shed more than $4 billion in market value in the days following last week’s suspension, as critics in Hollywood blasted the company for caving to pressure and some talent threatened to cut ties.

The shareholders want access to any financial analyses estimating the fallout of Kimmel’s suspension, as well as documents outlining how executives handle “politically sensitive programming.”

They are also seeking copies of Disney’s affiliate agreements with Nexstar and Sinclair — the two broadcast groups whose threats to black out Kimmel’s show preceded the suspension — along with board-level emails, including those involving CEO Bob Iger, and any correspondence between Disney and federal officials or political organizations.

The letter to Disney noted that Delaware law allows shareholders to demand access to “books and records” to investigate potential corporate wrongdoing.

Such requests often precede lawsuits, but they generally only cover board-level actions, not day-to-day management decisions, according to Semafor.

That means communications between Iger, Walden and Kimmel himself would likely remain out of reach. The shareholder groups stopped short of demanding those records, Semafor reported.

The groups’ legal team includes Roberta Kaplan, who previously sued President Donald Trump on behalf of writer E. Jean Carroll.

Kaplan and the other lawyers warned that if Disney does not comply within five business days, they will sue to obtain the records, according to the Semafor report.

The Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit founded by former Obama adviser Norman Eisen, helped coordinate the shareholder action.

The group has previously sought government documents related to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and recently sued the Justice Department over files concerning Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Kimmel was benched by Iger and Disney Entertainment co-Chair Dana Walden after he falsely linked Kirk’s alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah, to the MAGA movement.

The comment sparked uproar from Trump-leaning viewers and prompted affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar to pull Kimmel from the air.

Both companies have indicated that they plan to continue pre-empting Kimmel’s show, which resumed live episodes on Tuesday after Disney green-lighted his return.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s comments to a podcaster last week in which he suggested that the agency would get involved after Kimmel’s controversial monologue from Sept. 15 are reported to have set off alarm bells at Disney headquarters in Burbank.

In his return to the airwaves, Kimmel stopped short of apologizing and insisted that he never meant to blame one group for the assassination — though critics say that contradicted his statements from the monologue that initially got him suspended.

The Post has sought comment from Disney.