The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is preparing to challenge all television station licenses held by Disney’s ABC network, escalating a confrontation between the Trump administration and the media giant over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The FCC is preparing to “call in all of the TV station licenses for Disney/ABC for early renewal.” A source familiar with the matter told CNN the paperwork could be filed as early as Tuesday (April 28). The move would affect eight ABC owned-and-operated stations in major cities, including New York and Chicago, stations whose licenses aren’t due for renewal for years.
The escalation follows a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump on Monday (April 27), in which he blamed Kimmel for a shooting incident that occurred outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday (April 26) and called for Kimmel to be “immediately fired.” Disney did not immediately comment on either Trump’s post or the threatened FCC action. The company’s most visible response came in the form of action: it aired Kimmel’s show Monday night, despite an earlier suspension last fall during a previous campaign of government pressure against ABC.
In his Monday night monologue, Kimmel addressed a recent joke he made about First Lady Melania Trump, who he described as looking like an “expectant widow,” a comment he said was “about the fact that (Trump is) almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.” Kimmel told viewers, “Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I and as are all of us, because under the First Amendment we have as Americans the right to free speech.”
FCC chair Brendan Carr has not publicly announced any action against Disney’s licenses. However, he signaled last month on X that such a move was possible, writing, “The Communications Act authorizes the FCC to call in licenses for early renewal.”
The FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, pushed back sharply against the reported plan on Tuesday (April 28). “This is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere,” Gomez said. “This political stunt won’t stick. Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”
Press freedom advocates wasted no time condemning the move. Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that “the First Amendment and the FCC’s mandate do not permit the agency to use broadcast licenses as weapons to punish broadcasters for constitutionally protected content they air.” Stern added, “The FCC is neither the journalism police nor the humor police. This is nothing but illegal jawboning intended to intimidate ABC into kissing the ring.”
Station licensees hold broad legal protections, and the early-renewal order would trigger a lengthy hearing process — giving ABC multiple opportunities to fight back. Still, analysts note the process itself is costly and time-consuming.
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