Disney’s Tough News Cycle: Kimmel Firing, Wage Theft, Gate Tax.

By
Vern Nelson
– September 19, 2025Posted in: "The OC", anaheim, censorship, Disney, Donald Trump, FIrst Amendment, Fresh Juice, gate tax, protest


Disney, the worldwide purveyor of escapism that dominates our town of Anaheim, has had quite a news cycle the last couple days. Let’s start with their firing of TV personality Jimmy Kimmel, since there’s a protest planned against that in just a few hours (see above, and text below) …..

“In response to the abuse of power by a federal agency a rapid response protest is scheduled for this Friday, September 19th, 2025 from 7:00 to 9:00pm in Anaheim. Do not engage with trolls and stay alert. There is an upcoming merger deal that needs to be approved by the FCC and sadly Disney, owner of ABC, caved into this pressure and yanked the Jimmy Kimmel Show off the air to appease the Trump regime.

“Public broadcast companies like Sinclair, Nexstar, and television stations are wrong to bend the knee after the Chariman of the FCC said he would retaliate in a FOX show interview. Government agencies are NOT allowed to censor free speech, threaten, or coerse a company or person. https://50501oc.com/orange-county-disney-protest-defend…/

“Congress must exercise its oversight authority by launching immediate investigations. Tell your House of Representative to act now: https://indivisible.org/…/call-now-tell-house…

“We as individuals can push back and contact public broadcasters and the FCC:

Sample Script: “We object to the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Show after pressure from the FCC Chairman on FOX television and President Trump’s social media posts. This is government censorship plain and simple and it’s not what American values stand for.”

Vern back, and aside from the big issues, there’s one little thing that bugs me: This Kimmel cat (whom I’ve never watched) DIDN’T EVEN SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT CHARLIE KIRK, or minimize his death, although that’s become some kind of common wisdumb that he did.

1) This was his actual statement ON THE DAY KIRK WAS KILLED:

2) In his monologue Monday that got him fired, he said, “The MAGA gang (is) 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.” The first half of this statement could be heard as calling the murderer MAGA which woulda been premature and erroneous, although he didn’t literally say that; but his overall point was exactly right, MAGA from Trump on down immediately jumped to blame this murder on, and use it against, the ENTIRE COUNTRY TO THE LEFT OF THEM, and they’re nowhere near done doing that.

3) What really got Kimmel in trouble, I believe, was his lampooning the piggish President’s total lack of grief over the loss of his supposed close friend. It’s clear as ever that Trump doesn’t care about anybody but himself. “That’s the way a kid mourns a goldfish.” Well said, sir.

But what America & OC is rallying against this weekend is the phenomenon of big seemingly omnipotent companies like Disney caving in to the dictator. Can you say “craven?” Why does it have to be us little people who stand up for what’s right, while billionaires bow and scrape and beg for more big scraps?

And that’s what we’re protesting. Tonight and then again Sunday, with a younger crowd:

*****

2. The WAGE THEFT

This has been dragging on since 2018 and I’m getting tired of retelling the story. Seven years ago the people of Anaheim were sick of two things – Disney and wealthy hoteliers getting taxpayer subsidies in the hundreds of thousands, AND Disneyland WORKERS living in poverty, in their cars, on the street, and so on. While Disney made billions a year in Anaheim alone.

So someone wrote Measure L. If Measure L passed, any Anaheim resort-district company that enjoyed taxpayer subsidies would have to pay a “living wage” – a reasonable amount, maybe it was 17 an hour at the time, going up a bit every year. The measure passed easy, without much opposition from Disney.

That’s because Disney was secretly intending not to comply. Hoteliers who were getting subsidies complied, but not Disney. They tore up a couple of subsidies that weren’t important to them, and declared they were not subsidized.

Anything but pay their workers a living wage.

Bullshit, said many, the Mickey and Friends parking structure built by Anaheim taxpayers (with a bond we’re STILL paying off 30 years later) is nothing if not a subsidy. This question crawled through the courts, extra slowly during COVID, and the workers finally won, and Disney was ordered to pay all the back wages AND interest AND penalties.

Except this is news from TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO, and nothing has happened, except more bickering in courtrooms. Disney has STILL been dragging its feet, even after making headlines for “the biggest wage theft in California history” at $233 MILLION. Do they like that publicity?

Anything but just follow the law, follow what the generous, subsidizing voters of Anaheim want, and pay a pinche living wage.

In the news this week, it looks like they’re getting close to making those payments. Baby steps! Seven years after this money was owed, to its hard, dedicated workers.

I don’t know, I’m no business genius, but whoever, at Disney, decided to fight this thing for seven years, and lost, and ended up spending much more and looking like assholes, I’d think should be fired?

*****

3. Here comes the GATE TAX

I’ll write a separate piece about the proposed Gate Tax, especially now that the Council discussion on that has been put off from this coming Tuesday to next month. So, soon, I’ll write a big piece about how Anaheim NEEDS that 2-3% on ticket, how it’s been anomalous that we’re the only tourist-dependent city that doesn’t have one, and how long Anaheim patriots have been trying to get this. Hint – first battle was 1960.

The only thing I want to emphasize right here is HOW HARD DISNEY FOUGHT AGAINST THIS IDEA EVERY SINGLE TIME. Acting like having to pay an extra buck or two will stop folks from coming across the country & world to the Happiest Place on Earth. Acting like it’ll put them out of business, LOL. They raise their prices several times a year. People are addicted to their happy shit. They raise prices so’s the crowds won’t be too big!

My point is, after all their recent bad publicity, maybe it would look good for them to NOT FIGHT THIS THING. If they were good sports about helping out their long-suffering host city. Maybe we could finally have more than one public pool?

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE:

A Whole New Disney! (watch)

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About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.