The FCC is reviewing Disney-owned ABC’s broadcast licenses, a day after Trump called on the company to fire comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
The FCC under chair Brendan Carr, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, announced that it’s investigating Disney for its DEI practices on Tuesday.
“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,” the filing read.
Disney’s ABC was directed by the FCC to file license renewals for their licensed TV stations by May 28, or within 30 days.
Conservative podcaster Katie Miller posted a clip on Tuesday of Carr saying that there was “evidence that Disney has been pretty bad,” asserting that the company was potentially “giving different opportunities to people based on their race or gender.”
“That could raise character questions about the company long term,” Carr said of Disney in the clip. The FCC chairman then said he could “accelerate” ABC’s license renewal date.
Disney, like many American companies, has shaken up its DEI policies in the Trump era. It has deemphasized words like “diversity” and “equity.”
The Carr review also comes after a controversial joke from ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The comedian upset the Trumps by joking last Thursday that the first lady “had a glow like an expectant widow.” On Saturday night, an armed man went into the building that hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The president wrote in a social media post on Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” while the first lady remarked on X that “people like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”
“This is not really about DEI,” said Seth Stern, the director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
“That the FCC feels the need to use DEI as a pretext to go after ABC’s licenses shows that it’s known all along that its threats to revoke broadcast licenses for content-based reasons were a nonstarter under the constitution and the law,” Stern continued.
Kimmel was criticized by the FCC’s Carr last fall for the ABC host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer. At the time, Carr said that broadcasters could get their licenses reviewed if they weren’t acting “in the public interest.”
Disney and ABC temporarily suspended Kimmel’s show last fall. They haven’t done so this time — at least not yet.
Last fall, Disney faced a boycott after sidelining Kimmel. Millions of streaming subscribers canceled Disney+ and Hulu in the wake of Kimmel’s suspension, Business Insider reported.
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