FCC to call in Disney stations for early license review in wake of Kimmel saga
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Fox News Digital has confirmed that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to call Disney’s licenses for early licensing review on Tuesday, marking a significant escalation in tensions between the media giant and the Trump administration.
Disney-owned ABC affiliates will have to prove to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that they are operating in the public interest. The licenses won’t be renewed for several years, but the FCC is planning unprecedented action to speed up the renewal of licenses on the heels of Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial “widow-in-waiting” comment last week that led President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to call for a termination.
Quoting “people familiar with the subject,” Semaphore reported for the first time He said the FCC would begin reviewing Disney’s broadcast licenses. The same report suggested the commission might decide not to pursue, but an FCC source told Fox News Digital that Disney-owned stations would indeed be called in for a full review suite by Carr’s FCC.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr will try to ensure that Disney’s ABC stations operate in the public interest. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Rare Impact Fund)
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The request is not expected to specifically mention Kimmel’s name, instead being painted as a broad look at everything Disney-owned stations broadcast over public airwaves.
Kimmel did not apologize for the “widow” remark on Monday’s show; instead he stated that he was not explicitly calling for the assassination of the president and was instead referring to the first couple’s age difference.
“It was a very light joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than me. It wasn’t a call for assassination by any scope of the definition — and they know that,” Kimmel said. “I’ve been speaking out against gun violence, especially, for years, but I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend and that every weekend in that house was probably pretty stressful.”
His joke last week before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night came under fire after another apparent attempt on the president’s life. The suspected attacker reportedly told authorities that he wanted to target senior Trump administration members who attended the meeting.
This is an evolving story, more to come…
