FOX Business Charles Payne weighs in on Disney stock following suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night shows on ‘Making Money.’
Recent reports revealed that Disney+ saw a sharp increase in subscribers abandoning the streaming service following the brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
According to data from subscription analytics company Antenna, reported Monday by The New York Times, Disney+ lost about 3 million subscribers in September, the same month ABC suspended the late-night show over Kimmel’s comments regarding the Charlie Kirk assassination. That’s about twice the three-month average loss of about 1.2 million subscribers.
The churn rate, or percentage of subscribers who cancel monthly, also doubled for Disney+, from about 4% in August to 8% in September, according to Antenna.
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Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show was taken off the air by Disney on September 17, 2025. (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Hulu, another Disney-owned streaming service, saw a similar trend with 4.1 million subscribers leaving the service in September, up from 1.9 million a month earlier. Hulu’s churn rate increased from 5% to 10% during this same period.
Despite the increase in cancellations, Disney+ and Hulu also saw significant increases in subscribers in September. Disney+ gained about 2.2 million subscribers in the United States, while Hulu added about 2.1 million new subscribers, representing an increase of about 10% and 5%, respectively, from August.
Fox Business has contacted Disney for comment.
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Disney+ and Hulu lost millions of subscribers in September. (Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Kimmel initially faced public criticism after falsely suggesting that Kirk’s alleged killer was part of the “MAGA gang”, despite reports of his left-wing ideology.
“We hit new lows this 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 get political points out of it,” Kimmel told his audience.
Jimmy Kimmel’s show was briefly suspended on September 17 after broadcasting giants Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group announced they would preempt the program due to Kimmel’s controversial comments.
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Jimmy Kimmel’s show returned to the air after being suspended by ABC for less than a week. (Michael Le Brecht/Disney via Getty Images / Getty Images)
After intense backlash from media commentators, protests outside the studio, and threats of a boycott from Disney, the series returned to the air less than a week later on September 23.
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Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group then announced on September 26 that they were ending preemption of Kimmel’s show.
