Disney’s Bob Iger and Dana Walden wanted to know how Kimmel was going to address the situation. Sources say he planned to defend what he said rather than "kowtowing” to the outrage. Disney thought that would fan the flames.

The president has repeatedly threatened networks over their news coverage and raged against late-night comedians like Kimmel and Colbert for making fun of him. Of the Big Three networks (sorry, kids, I’m old) Comcast-owned NBC has so far stood its ground.

Dana Carvey is spilling the tea about the brutal “Saturday Night Live” cast shake-up. The comedian, 70, shared intel about Heidi Gardner’s exit from the NBC show on Wednesday’s episode of his “Fly on the Wall” podcast with David Spade. “From what I know as of this recording, that it was not her idea to leave,” Carvey claimed.