ABC aired Jimmy Kimmel’s show after Trump demanded he be fired. His next move caught even legal experts off guard

The Trump administration has targeted ABC’s parent company, Disney, by challenging the network’s station licenses. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by Trump-aligned Chairman Brendan Carr, has ordered Disney to file license renewals for all its TV stations within 30 days. This move has stunned legal experts and set up a major legal battle.

The action is seen as government payback for ABC’s refusal to fire Jimmy Kimmel after he made a joke about First Lady Melania Trump’s age. Trump had demanded ABC fire Kimmel, calling his joke “despicable” and a “call to violence.” However, Kimmel refused to apologize, and ABC stood by its host, airing his show on Monday night.

The FCC’s order, published on Tuesday afternoon, marks a major step up in the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure ABC, according to CNN. While the FCC says the license review is related to an ongoing investigation into Disney’s diversity programs, many see it as a clear attempt to punish the network for airing Kimmel’s show.

The First Amendment does not allow broadcast licenses to be used as punishment weapons

“This is a clear case of government overreach and an attempt to intimidate ABC into silencing its critics,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a public interest lawyer. “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.”

Disney responded to the FCC’s action, saying its ABC stations have a long record of following FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public-interest programming.

The company is confident that its record shows it remains qualified as a licensee under the Communications Act and the First Amendment. Kimmel has previously clarified his joke wasn’t calling for violence, explaining it was a light roast. The FCC’s move is rare, with the agency not filing an early-renewal order in decades.

Both Disney and a small station license holder called Bridge News will now go through a long hearing process, giving them multiple chances to respond. “The legal standard for denying a license renewal is almost insurmountable,” Schwartzman said. “A hearing and subsequent judicial review would take years, during which time the broadcaster can continue to operate as normal.”

The FCC’s investigation into Disney’s diversity programs is being seen as an excuse for the license review. Chairman Carr has called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at companies like Disney discriminatory and has pushed media companies to drop those programs.

In a recent podcast, Carr said the investigation of Disney has found evidence that “suggests” the company was “dividing and categorizing employees based on race and gender.” He added that “that could raise character questions about the company,” seemingly justifying a review of Disney’s licenses.

The FCC’s enforcement powers are limited, which is why many analysts have suggested that the process itself is the intended punishment. Press freedom advocates say Disney has many legal defenses available.

“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,” said Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Stern added strong criticism of the FCC’s decision. “Brendan Carr’s decision to abandon his principles to kiss up to Trump to advance his career does not change the law that Carr knows full-well applies,” Stern said. “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.”

The FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, has criticized the order, calling 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,” Gomez said.

This controversy follows other recent Trump incidents, including when gunfire interrupted the correspondents’ dinner, raising questions about staged events. “This should be a lesson to media companies that no amount of capitulation to this Administration will buy them protection. The only choice is to stand up and stand firm in defense of the First Amendment.”

Kimmel remains defiant, continuing to push back against Trump’s demands and defend his right to free speech. “We have as Americans the right to free speech,” Kimmel said in his Monday night monologue, reports The Daily Beast. “And I’m going to keep exercising that right, no matter what.”