Trump administration challenges ABC's station licenses after Jimmy Kimmel's joke
發佈日期: 2026-04-30 00:37
TVB News
The US Federal Communications Commission has announced an early review of ABC's television broadcast licenses after President Donald Trump demanded the network pull Jimmy Kimmel's late night show.
In an order on Tuesday, the US Federal Communications Commission said ABC, whose parent company is Disney, is directed to file license renewals for all eight of their licensed TV stations by May 28th.
The review, which the FCC asserted was related to an ongoing probe into Disney's track record of diversity and inclusion practices, could lead to the revocation of the stations' licenses to broadcast, an action that the agency has not taken for 40 years.
ABC TV station licenses were not scheduled for renewal until 2028.
Disney responded by saying it has "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" and is "prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels."
Last Thursday, late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel joked that First Lady Melania Trump had the glow of an "expectant widow." He made the remarks days before the shooting incident outside a White House media gala hosted by the Trumps.
President Donald Trump lashed out at Kimmel's "call to violence" on social media on Monday and said he should be "immediately fired."
During his monologue on Monday night's show, Kimmel said his comment last week was obviously a "light roast" about the couple's age difference, about the fact that Trump will be 80 and his wife turned 56 this month.
Kimmel added, "It was not by any stretch of the definition a call for assassination."
Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz strongly rebuked the FCC decision, stating it is not the government's job to censor speech.
The only Democrat commissioner at FCC, Anna Gomez, noted ABC could challenge the agency's review of its station licenses in the courts.
