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Posted on 04/29/2026 8:17:32 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The Federal Communications Commission has ordered The Walt Disney Company's ABC to seek early broadcast license renewals for the eight TV stations it owns.
The move follows criticism from first lady Melania Trump who objected to a joke about her made by late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel. President Trump followed up with a social media post calling for Kimmel to be fired.
As the early license renewal order went out, FCC Chair Brendan Carr criticized ABC's parent company, Disney. Speaking on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller — whose husband is White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — Carr said there are multiple ways the FCC can handle broadcast licenses.
On his show Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel said the joke he made about first lady Melania Trump was a "light roast" and was "not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that." Kimmel is shown above in November 2020.
"You can accelerate when a license comes due and say, 'hey, we have significant concerns with the value of conducting your operations. We want to review your license now and decide if you're in the public interest,'" Carr said. "If we find that a broadcast hasn't been doing that, then the statute requires us to issue a hearing designation order."
Carr criticized Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, but did not specifically mention Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The FCC's order comes after Kimmel made a joke during a sketch on his late night show — a mock speech for an alternative White House Correspondents' Dinner. "Our first lady Melania is here. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow," Kimmel quipped.
The sketch aired three days before the actual White House Correspondents' Dinner, when a heavily armed man allegedly attempted to enter the ballroom where President Trump and other senior members of the administration were present. The suspect, Cole Allen, was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate the president. In a post on X, Melania Trump called Kimmel's joke about her "hateful and violent" and urged ABC — which airs his show — to take action.
Kimmel responded on his show the following Monday, defending the joke. "Obviously [it] was a joke about their age difference, and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together." He said it was a "light roast" and was "not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination. And they know that." Kimmel added that he's been very vocal for many years against gun violence.
This is not the first time, Kimmel, ABC or Disney have faced backlash from the Trump administration. In September, Disney briefly suspended Kimmel's show after the comedian said the "MAGA gang" was trying to score political points from the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. The comments prompted a backlash from conservatives, and Carr warned that the FCC could take action against ABC affiliates that continued airing the show.
"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr said on a podcast hosted by Benny Johnson in September. "These companies can find ways to change conduct … or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
Kimmel's show was reinstated six days later after leading entertainment figures and even conservatives, including Senator Ted Cruz criticized Kimmel's sidelining.
Now, the FCC is ordering Disney and ABC to file a license renewal application for the stations within 30 days. Those licenses were not scheduled for renewal until 2028 at the earliest.
In a statement, a Disney spokesperson said the company has always complied with FCC rules and is confident it meets the qualifications to remain a license holder.
The new FCC order is drawing scrutiny from Democrats on Capitol Hill and others in Washington. "The FCC has just pulled out a sword to hang over every single news organization in America," Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NPR. "And to say: you report things that Donald Trump doesn't like and your entire station, your entire outfit, your entire business model could just disappear in the blink of an eye."
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Heard any good Jimmy jokes lately?
WABC-TV New York, KABC-TV Los Angeles, WLS-TV Chicago, WPVI-TV Philadelphia, KTRK-TV Houston, KGO-TV San Francisco, WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham and KFSN-TV Fresno.
It should be titled, “…..FCC orders early license renewal for ABC stations following Kimmel's first lady unconscionably, horribly, hateful comments.”….
Hardly a joke.
Thanks, Bob!
It wasn't a joke.
Disney should ask itself how they would have reacted if the same thing was said of Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton... or any wife of a prominent democrat.
I definitely understand this. Kimmel’s so-called “joke” was vile. ABC should have canned him after his lies about the Charlie Kirk murder;it definitely should so so now, especially after he doubled down on the so-called “joke” in the wake of Saturday’s events.
I fully support Donald and Melania’s statements on this. No, those statements do not constitute government pressure in violation of the First Amendment, no matter how hard liberals try to make it so. (Everyone knows that they think if they just repeat it enough, that makes it true. Liberal Rule of Truth #2.)
If viewers or other members of the public (since Kimmel has very few viewers) want to go to the FCC website (fcc.gov) and file complaints, please do so.
However, the FCC’s action does look like retaliatory government action. That at least flirts with the limits of the First Amendment; it seems like government sanctioning speech. Licenses are on a schedule, and when they would normally be up for renewal they should be looked at. But special action to challenge them early seems like using the power of government to shut down critics. We spent four years criticizing the Biden regime for that.
No, not even close. In reality, “...following Kimmel’s call for the crazies to assassinate President Trump.”
Nobody thinks it was not an assassination joke.
If it wasn’t a joke, what was it then? Comment? Statement?
Free speech is free speech. You don’t have to like it but it’s free speech.
Ever see a real roast on TV like the comedy central roast? They can be damn mean, awful and disgusting but it’s still free speech.
Threatening a president has consequences and in reality if the FBI went after everyone who threatened Trump through social media we’d need to fence off a couple hundred miles to hold all the lunatic left.
‘A joke Trump doesn’t like’ like calling for his death? Yeah. And Kimmel is against gun violence, just like Hollywood, Who claims THEY are against gun violence and whose nearly every movie for half a century or more has been based on gun violence and murder.
What liars these people are.
Incitement to violence is incitement to violence, and there are laws against that.
That's what ACCOUNTABILITY for using free speech looks like. Isn't that what the left-wing a**holes have been taunting us with for so long now? Karma's a beyotch.
Because of the nature of the monologue mocking the Charlie Kirk assassination, the line was crossed when pushing for the murder of the President.
There is a line crossed after conservative murders happened, and the want for copycat murders and assassination attempts. An excessive number of assassination attempts on the President also makes such “hate” speech crossing the line. This becomes a security case when the “Hakim Jeffries for President” campaign is de facto launched by these terrorists.
Your terms are acceptable.
Good. It forces Disney to spend resouces and money on expensive lawyers to deal with this process. In the end they will keep their licenses but will lose a good bit of money.
Democrats get very upset over “hate speech” but they really enjoy “jokes”.
If this was Obongo Jimmy would have been pulled off the air the same day. No probation, no apologies. Done.
If this was Obongo Jimmy would have been pulled off the air the same day. No probation, no apologies. Done.
If this was Obongo Jimmy would have been pulled off the air the same day. No probation, no apologies. Done.
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