Dana Walden Shares Her Thoughts on CEO Competition and the Jimmy Kimmel Controversy
Dana Walden has addressed two prominent topics in Hollywood: the ongoing race for the CEO position at Disney and the recent controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel.
As Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, Walden shared insights during an interview with Bloomberg’s *The Circuit* with Emily Chang.
When asked about her candidacy to succeed Bob Iger as CEO, Walden remarked, “Well, being pit against my colleagues, I don’t appreciate because we have incredible relationships. We are a very tight organization. But I have enormous faith in where this company’s going. There is a world-class team at this company who is navigating the path into the future.”
Walden is seen as a leading candidate alongside Josh D’Amaro, the Chairman of Disney Experiences, who oversees the parks division. Although rumors have circulated about external candidates, colleagues like Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro are not believed to be in contention.
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One of Walden’s supporters is Jimmy Kimmel, who recently stated, “It would be very foolish for me to answer that question, but I happen to love Dana Walden very much, and I think she’s done a great job.”
Kimmel faced a suspension from his show, *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*, on September 17 after comments regarding the killer of Charlie Kirk sparked considerable backlash. Following a week off-air, Kimmel returned to his show on September 23.
While former President Trump praised the suspension, Walden confirmed he did not reach out to her or Iger, saying, “He did not. We did not hear from them.”
Walden explained that the decision to suspend Kimmel was made to “take the temperature down.” She stated, “We were thinking about one only thing as we made that decision very close to his show going back up on that Wednesday, and that was, the situation was extremely heated. We wanted to take the temperature down. We didn’t think that was gonna be possible that night, so we hit pause to have conversations with Jimmy. We wanted to resolve the situation in a certain way to protect our employees and to think about our audience.”
During the show’s absence, reports indicated that Disney experienced subscriber losses in its streaming services, such as Hulu. However, Walden dismissed these claims, asserting, “Those reports were highly exaggerated. You saw the number of subscribers that we reported during our earnings. We had a very strong quarter. I think that this issue is firmly in our past.”
