Left officials will secretly message tech companies to censor speech that they don't like, and cover it up so that it only comes out in litigation. So that even years afterwards, most people have no idea and the media can successfully cover up what they did.
Right officials will shout from the rooftops "HEY, YOU BETTER CANCEL THIS GUY OR WE'LL DO IT THE HARD WAY", so that even a voluntary decision to pull someone who is unfunny and has bad ratings will appear like government censorship.
The difference between people who want to accomplish something and people who are solely interested in their public image.
Yeah I think Disney would have gotten rid of him eventually but the timing and Republicans pouncing was a convenient way for them to do it without taking blame. Sometimes you need to let your enemy save face. Give them an escape route as Sun Tzu would say. I really don't care about 'the damage done from "Republicans are censoring"'. Again, perception of virtue vs reality.