FCC orders review of ABC licenses after Kimmel joke offends Trump and first lady - Ars Technica
Overview
FCC orders review of ABC licenses after Kimmel joke offends Trump and first ladyvar abtest_2152016 = new ABTest(2152016, 'click');
Kimmel joke calling Melania an “expectant widow” followed quickly by FCC order.
Details
The Federal Communications Commission today opened an unusual review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, one day after President Trump and the first lady called on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over a recent joke in which he said Melania Trump looked like an “expectant widow.”
There are no TV station licenses for any company up for renewal until 2028, and the legal process for revoking licenses is so difficult that it’s been described as nearly impossible. But the FCC today issued an order instructing ABC owner Disney to file early license renewal applications for all of its licensed TV stations by May 28.
“FCC rules provide that whenever the FCC regards an application for a renewal of a license as essential to the proper conduct of an investigation, the FCC has the authority to call the broadcaster’s licenses in for early renewal,” the agency said. “Doing so both allows the FCC to conduct its ongoing investigation and enables the FCC to ensure that the broadcaster has been meeting its public interest obligations more broadly.”
The demand apparently stems from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s opposition to Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, which he claims are a form of discrimination. Carr previously opened an investigation into the matter, and today’s order said the FCC “has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”
“While Disney’s ABC has purported to respond to two FCC Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) as part of this investigation, the FCC has determined that additional actions are appropriate at this time,” the agency order said.
The license probe reportedly was sped up after the Kimmel joke. An NBC News article said that while the proceeding ostensibly is about DEI, a source indicated that it was “fast-tracked after ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about first lady Melania Trump.”
The uproar is over a Kimmel joke during a skit in which he pretended to deliver a roast at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “Our first lady, Melania, is here… So beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said. Kimmel also suggested in his pretend roast that Trump and his wife were introduced to each other by Jeffrey Epstein.
ABC owns eight TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno. The stations’ licenses were originally scheduled for renewals between 2028 and 2031, a Disney spokesperson told Ars today.
“ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming,” Disney said in a statement provided to Ars. “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.”
“Retribution for a joke Donald Trump didn’t like”
Anna Gomez, the only Democratic FCC commissioner, wrote today that the Disney review “is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere. This political stunt won’t stick. Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”
Media advocacy group Free Press said that demanding an early license renewal “is an extremely rare escalation.” Free Press co-CEO Jessica J. González said, “Carr will try to dress up this latest attack like a legitimate FCC procedure, but his motivations are clear. He is using his position of power to silence dissent at the president’s beck and call… The timing of this move suggests unconstitutional retribution for a joke Donald Trump didn’t like.”
An ABC probe could examine DEI, Kimmel’s comedy, and other shows. Carr threatened ABC station licenses in September 2025, alleging at the time that airing Kimmel’s show might violate the rarely enforced news distortion policy. He later opened an equal-time rule investigation into ABC’s The View, even though the interview portions of talk shows have historically been exempt from the rule.
Carr’s investigations into media generally haven’t gone very far, but the probes cause trouble for news organizations even if they don’t result in penalties. Carr has also used merger reviews to impose requirements related to DEI and news coverage, since large companies are willing to make concessions in exchange for transaction approvals.
Trump skipped the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in previous years but attended this year’s event on April 25. The dinner was cut short by gunshots in an apparent assassination attempt.
Kimmel’s monologue and skit aired last week, before the dinner occurred. Kimmel said the event typically includes remarks from a comedian, but that this year’s event had no comedian because “our president is a delicate snowflake.” Kimmel introduced the skit by saying he had decided to “do some of the jokes a comedian might do if our president wasn’t a trembling drama queen who’s scared of comedy.”
In a Truth Social post yesterday, Trump linked the “expectant widow” joke to the shooting. “A day later a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives. He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason,” Trump wrote. “I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Melania Trump called for Kimmel’s firing in an X post. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy… People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” the first lady wrote.
Kimmel defends “very light roast joke” about age gap
Kimmel discussed the controversy over his skit in last night’s monologue. “There was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm and a call to fire me from our first lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made five nights ago,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel said he made “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, and they know that. I have been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence.”
Addressing the first lady, Kimmel said, “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
Today’s FCC announcement of the Disney probe came several hours after a group of former FCC chairs and commissioners asked a federal appeals court to compel the FCC to respond to a November 2025 petition to repeal the agency’s 1960s-era news distortion policy.
“If the writ is granted, the FCC will be required to take a position on whether to repeal or uphold the news distortion policy, which FCC Chair Brendan Carr has abused to chill free speech in the press,” said a press release announcing today’s court filing. The filing was submitted by former FCC leaders from both major political parties along with the Radio Television Digital News Association, which represents broadcast journalists.
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Key Takeaways
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FCC orders review of ABC licenses after Kimmel joke offends Trump and first ladyvar abtest_2152016 = new ABTest(2152016, 'click');
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Kimmel joke calling Melania an “expectant widow” followed quickly by FCC order
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The Federal Communications Commission today opened an unusual review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, one day after President Trump and the first lady called on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over a recent joke in which he said Melania Trump looked like an “expectant widow
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There are no TV station licenses for any company up for renewal until 2028, and the legal process for revoking licenses is so difficult that it’s been described as nearly impossible
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“FCC rules provide that whenever the FCC regards an application for a renewal of a license as essential to the proper conduct of an investigation, the FCC has the authority to call the broadcaster’s licenses in for early renewal,” the agency said
