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Josh D’Amaro’s Wild Ride

Between Trump’s attacks on Jimmy Kimmel and “The Bachelorette,” Disney’s new chief has faced a tumultuous start. But insiders tell Status he remains focused—and has learned from past controversies.

Brian Lowry
Brian Lowry

May 1, 2026

Josh D’Amaro’s Wild Ride

Josh D’Amaro’s Wild Ride

Between Trump’s attacks on Jimmy Kimmel and “The Bachelorette,” Disney’s new chief has faced a tumultuous start. But insiders tell Status he remains focused—and has learned from past controversies.

Brian Lowry
Brian Lowry

May 1, 2026

Josh D’Amaro’s Wild Ride

On Monday, Melania Trump and later Donald Trump put Jimmy Kimmel on blast for a joke about her glowing like an “expectant widow.” Trump’s eager-to-please FCC chairman Brendan Carr then took the incredibly rare step of expediting review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, unleashing the usual army of flying monkeys on X calling for the host’s firing. And like that, whatever new Disney chief executive Josh D’Amaro intended to accomplish that day was suddenly detoured by crafting an appropriately measured response.

For D’Amaro, who officially took over from Bob Iger on March 18, Trump’s raging against Kimmel is just part of his baptism by fire—or in Fantasyland parlance, a wild ride—in not quite six weeks. That includes “The Bachelorette” imploding days into his tenure for failing to adequately vet “star” Taylor Frankie Paul, prompting the network to pull the plug on the season and swallow millions in losses.

Yet Disney insiders tell Status that…

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In this week’s episode: We have the inside story on how Bari Weiss ousted CBS News’ foreign chief this week over disagreements with the network’s coverage of Israel. Plus, the “CBS Evening News” sinks even lower in the ratings, Brendan Carr proves he isn’t a fan of free speech as he tries to silence Jimmy Kimmel, and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon considers rebooting “The Apprentice” with Donald Trump Jr.

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Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci in "The Devil Wears Prada 2." (Photo by Macall Polay/20th Century Studios)

‘Prada’s’ Chic Reunion: There are plenty of new faces in “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” as well as a theme about the sad state of journalism that soberly captures what’s transpired in the 20 years since the first film. Yet those involved are smart enough to recognize what people really want is the warm tidings of a stylish reunion, and in terms of navigating that narrow runway, the movie mostly delivers.

“Prada 2” does bog down a bit in its corporate intrigue, but the less one sweats the details of that the better, and the overall vibe makes for a genuinely good time. For that, one can applaud the core cast for sliding back into these roles as if they never left them.

Frankly, the movie would be…

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