WSJ What’s News - Disney Suspends Kimmel Over Kirk Comments

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

A.M. Edition for Sept. 18. The entertainment giant is pulling ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Kimmel accused ‘MAGA-land’ figures of exploiting Kirk’s death, sparking outrage from conservatives. Plus, the WSJ’s Peter Loftus explains how weight-loss pills are going to upend the market, as a Novo Nordisk trial shows the pill is just as effective as its Wegovy shot. And, royalty, lavish dinners and tech CEOs: Britain turns on the charm offensive as Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom continues. Caitlin McCabe hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you lock the front door? Check. Close the garage door? Yep. Installed window sensors, smoke sensors, and HD cameras with night vision? No. And you set up credit card transaction alerts, a secure VPN for a private connection,

and continuous monitoring for our personal info on the dark web? Uh, I'm looking into it. Stress less about security. Choose security solutions from TELUS for peace of mind at home and online. Visit tellus.com slash total security to learn more. Conditions apply. Disney pulls Jimmy Kimmel off the air after his remarks on slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Plus, Nova Nordisk's experimental weight loss pill shows strong results in a late-stage trial.

Weekly injectables, they've just generated huge sales. But the companies that have developed those haven't rested on their laurels. And they feel that there is a demand for pill versions of these drugs. And Britain's Prime Minister, otherwise known as Europe's Trump Whisper, prepares for a meeting with the president. It's Thursday, September 18th. I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal, and here's the AM edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today. Disney has pulled popular late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off ABC indefinitely, following remarks he made about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. We hit some new lows over the 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 score political points from it.

The decision came just hours after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, criticized Kimmel on a conservative political podcast, where he suggested the agency could take action against the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations. People familiar with the matter, said senior leadership, including Disney CEO Bob Eiger, were among those who decided to poll Kimmel immediately. We should note that a spokesman for Kimmel said the host had no comment. Kirk's killing has become a deeply divisive issue over the last week. People who have condemned Kirk's rhetoric, gloated over his death, or criticized the White House's response to it, have found themselves facing sharp rebuke. In Washington, Republicans attempted to censure Democratic Representative Elon Omar.

for reposting a video that disparaged Kirk. Democrats defeated the effort last night. We're exclusively reporting that some military lawyers and other defense department officials are raising concerns about the legal implications of President Trump's growing military campaign against Latin American-based drug cartels. Twice this month, the U.S. has attacked boats it believed were transporting illegal drugs in international waters. Officials have raised concerns about the justification for the strikes and the legal implications

military personnel who have been involved. But people familiar with the matter said those opinions were deliberately ignored or sidelined by Pentagon leaders. A spokesman for the Pentagon denied that any department lawyers have raised concerns and said that the administration's current operations are lawful under U.S. and international law. And Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, is in Mexico today to meet with President Claudia Shanebaum. America's neighbors are preparing for next year's review of their free trade deal with the U.S. More than 75% of Canada's exports and more than 80% of Mexico's go to America. Our deputy Latin America editor Santiago Perez says Canada and Mexico are looking to improve bilateral

ties because preserving the U.S.MCA is crucial for both economies. So the visit is quite important because there are topics in which both countries need close coordination. The auto sector is one important example, and so is the auto parts industry, in which both Mexico and Canada are highly integrated, and most of the exports go to the U.S. This North American integration also means that a lot of car parts go from one country to the other. So reaching a trade deal that is beneficial for the three countries is a top priority, especially for Mexico and Canada. We're talking about millions of jobs at stake. And now to a major development in weight loss drugs.

Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharma giant, said this morning that its daily Wagovi pill has helped patients in a late-stage trial lose about as much weight as they do when taking the company's weekly injection. Patients taking the experimental drug lost an average 16.6% of their weight, with a third losing up to 20% or more in a 64-week period. Peter Loftus covers the weight loss industry for the Wall Street Journal and says, while weekly injectables have generated huge sales, there's real demand for weight loss pills, too. There's a demand from people who don't like needles,

who might like the cadence of taking something once a day, rather than a weekly injectable. And from a manufacturing standpoint, for the companies, there's some advantages to making these in pill forms rather than weekly injectables. This is in part because the pill could cost less than current weight loss drugs. The injectables right now, they have list prices of over $1,000 a month. In practice, their net prices are a lot lower than that in the U.S., at least, because of discounts that the companies provide. But still are several hundred dollars a month. The analysts who follow these companies think there's at least the potential for lower prices because it's easier and less costly to make these pill versions than it is to make the injectables, which in addition to the medication itself,

come with these auto-injector devices, and so that adds some cost and complexity to manufacturing. And while this industry has been incredibly competitive, Peter said other companies are likely to enter the pill race, even as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly get first mover advantage. Novo does have an opportunity to kind of shore up its market share. The problem is that it might have a limited window in enjoying that advantage, because Eli Lilly has developed its own pill that could come to market, A lot of these other companies, they recognize that Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have essentially established a duopoly with the injectables. And so they've kind of moved ahead of that to kind

of aim for the next wave that even if it's a couple of years from now, they could come to market with a superior product, maybe one that helps people lose more weight than what these first pills can deliver. It's worth noting that Novo and Eli Lilly's weight loss pills haven't been approved for use yet. with U.S. regulators expected to reach a decision by the end of the year. Coming up, investors are already looking ahead to the next potential rate cut from the Fed. And we look at the art of managing the president from Europe's so-called Trump Whisperer. Those stories after the break.

Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. This fall get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. We're less than 24 hours out from the Fed's interest rate cut, and investors are already turning their attention to the next expected move. Yesterday's quarter point cut was expected,

but the lack of clarity regarding how many more rate cuts are in store over the next year means we're likely to see a lot more volatility. Paul Hannan is the economics editor for Dow Jones Newswires in London. Paul, the Fed is obviously agenda setting for markets and to some extent for other central banks too. Are there any upcoming decisions we should be looking at here? The Bank of England is today. It is likely to leave its key rate unchanged. It's been moving very slowly and carefully while the Fed has been on pause. It's very like the Fed, actually. I mean, it faces. is this challenge of balancing a pickup in inflation against signs of a cooler jobs market. And while the Fed is sort of leaning towards focusing on the jobs market, the Bank of England is leaning a bit more towards worrying about inflation. So while investors sort of expect the Fed to deliver two more cuts this year, investors are thinking maybe the Bank of England will

wait until early next year to make its next move. And I believe we're waiting on a decision from the Bank of Japan too. What are we expecting on that front, given the uncertainty over Japan's trade outlook, but also the resignation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba earlier this month? They will be very, very careful. And right now, they will probably decide to leave things as they are. But I think later in the year, you'll probably see another small rate rise. You mentioned the deterioration in the U.S. economy. How does that compare to the rest of the world globally. Well, it has a big impact on the economic situation in the rest of the world. It's been a little bit clearer in the US that tariffs are having an impact on both prices and the jobs

market. Europe so far appears to have been a little bit less affected by that. And that's partly to do at the level at which tariffs seem to be settling. Overnight, for example, the Irish Central Bank published some new forecasts that raised its growth forecasts for this year. next year, basically because the 15% level at which tariffs appear to be fixed now for a little while, at least, is going to be less damaging than they had anticipated. But that's not to say that this is done and dusted. There's still quite a lot of uncertainty about exactly, you know, how trade is going to be conducted over the next few years. So it's a difficult moment, I think, for central banks to be making decisions about anything. That's Paul Hannon for Dow Jones Newswires in London.

Paul, thanks for being here. You're welcome. Thanks. And finally, President Trump continues his unprecedented second state visit to the U.K. today, where he'll meet Kier Starrmer, the British Prime Minister who has seemingly perfected the art of handling the mercurial president. Before leaving Washington, Trump suggested he was open to making some concessions to Britain on trade. And perhaps to sweeten the deal, Britain has rolled out the red carpet for the president and Melania Trump, including a lavish dinner with King Charles III at Windsor Castle last night. Here's journal White House reporter Tarini Party.

The table itself measured 51 yards, had 139 candles, and 1,452 pieces of cutlery for the 160 guests. The table took a week to put together and the guest list, which included tech CEOs like Apple's Tim Cook and Open AIs Sam Altman, was created by the British government, the White House. and the royal family. Officials said it was representative of the transatlantic relationship. Starmar in Britain's approach to dealing with Trump has been paying dividends for Britain, which secured an early trade deal with the U.S., a lower tariff rate compared to the European Union, and special treatment on steel and aluminum tariffs. Downing Street, the British Prime Minister's office has said the U.K. has also secured more than

$200 billion in investments from U.S. companies to coincide with Trump's visit, including over $40 billion and new AI infrastructure investments from U.S. tech companies. Trump will meet Starmar at the Prime Minister's countryside retreat today, known as checkers, where the president and first lady are expected to be presented with a range of made-in-Briton gifts. And that's it for What's News for this Thursday morning. Today's show is produced by Kate Bollivant and Daniel Bach. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal.

We'll be back tonight with the new show. Until then, thanks for listening.