Free speech advocates sounded the alarm Tuesday over the Federal Communications Commission’s challenge to ABC’s broadcast licenses, with some decrying the move as a threat to the First Amendment and a clear example of federal overreach.
“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,” said Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit group.
The FCC, the federal agency that regulates the broadcast television industry, announced Tuesday it would launch an early review of the eight station licenses owned by ABC, a unit of the Disney media empire.
In a public filing, the FCC said the review stemmed from a yearlong investigation of Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. But a source with knowledge of the matter said it got fast-tracked after ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made a controversial joke about first lady Melania Trump.
President Donald Trump and White House communications director Steven Cheung have publicly called on ABC to fire Kimmel over his description of the first lady as an “expectant widow” during a parody of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that aired last Thursday.
Two days after that segment aired, a gunman allegedly targeting Trump administration officials opened fire outside the correspondents’ association event at the Washington Hilton. The president and first lady were rushed out of the ballroom.
ABC and Disney have not publicly addressed the White House’s criticism. Kimmel defended his remarks Monday, saying in part: “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.”
In a statement, a key nonprofit civil liberties group characterized the FCC’s early license renewal proceedings as a case of “viewpoint retaliation.”
“The FCC may claim these actions are based on DEI policies and have nothing to do with Jimmy Kimmel, but its timing makes it clear these justifications are a fig leaf,” said Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“This campaign against a disfavored broadcaster violates the First Amendment, pure and simple,” Corn-Revere said, adding that the First Amendment “requires those in government to be strong enough to take a joke.”
In response to a request for comment, an FCC spokesperson said: “As the agency decision makes clear, the early renewal order is based on a long running FCC investigation into Disney’s DEI conduct, not any speech.”
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University nonetheless accused Trump of “trying to consolidate control over what Americans see and hear on the radio, television, and social media.”
“If he gets his way, we’ll have only government-aligned media organizations that broadcast only government-approved news and commentary,” Jameel Jaffer, the institute’s director, said in a post on the social media platform Bluesky.
Reporters Without Borders and PEN America, a free expression group, both slammed the FCC order. The latter claimed it was clear the agency’s directive was a case of “government retaliation,” adding in part: “People aren’t stupid.”
Oscar-winning actor Jane Fonda, who re-launched The Committee for the First Amendment — an advocacy group founded by her father, Henry Fonda — called the FCC’s order “a naked attempt to weaponize government power against dissident.”
The pushback to the FCC order also came from inside the agency: Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democratic appointee on the three-person panel, called it “the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date.”
“This is an unprecedented and politically motivated attempt to interfere with how broadcasters operate, and this unlawful overreach will fail,” Gomez said in part.
Trump has not publicly commented on the FCC review of ABC’s station licenses. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the FCC’s order or the backlash from free speech advocates.
ABC owns and operates broadcast stations in key media markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. The licenses were not due to come up for renewal until 2028 at the earliest, according to the source with knowledge of the matter. The stations have 30 days to comply with the FCC’s order.
NBC News has reached out to all eight stations for comment.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, a Disney spokesperson confirmed the company had received the FCC’s order.
“We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels,” the spokesperson said.
The FCC is chaired by Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee who regularly assails news organizations and media companies in public statements and posts on social media.
In a free speech flashpoint last fall, Carr fiercely criticized Kimmel for on-air comments about the political motivations of the man charged with assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. Carr accused Kimmel of “the sickest conduct imaginable.”
ABC briefly suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over his suggestion that the suspect was part of the “MAGA gang,” and two leading owners of broadcast affiliate stations — Nexstar and Sinclair — refused to air the talk show for nine days.
Nexstar and Sinclair did not respond to emailed questions about whether they planned to again pre-empt Kimmel’s show.
