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A group of ten American Democratic senators demanded on Thursday that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) President Brendan Carr explain why he ordered an early review of the licenses of the eight Walt Disney ABC stations. Senators including Ed Markey, Chuck Schumer, and Maria Cantwell described this move as “the latest and most extreme step in your use of FCC power in licensing as a weapon against broadcasters whose editorial choices displease the president.” Carr’s decision came just a day after President Donald Trump publicly demanded the firing of Jimmy Kimmel, host of a late-night show on ABC, for a joke he made.
Disney has until May 28 to respond. The FCC has not revoked a broadcast license in over forty years.
Carr, who previously denied that the White House pressured him to take this action, and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The senators want to know if Carr or his team had any contact with White House members in the days leading up to the decision regarding Disney.
“You have effectively turned the FCC’s authority over public airwaves into an instrument of presidential retaliation against constitutionally protected freedom of expression,” the senators stated in a letter to Carr.
Disney’s broadcast licenses were not due for review until October 2028. After a joke by Kimmel sparked calls from the White House for ABC to fire the comedian, the FCC ordered an early review of the licenses on Tuesday.
Kimmel parodied the longtime comedian role at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on ABC, joking that first lady Melania Trump had the “glow of a widow waiting.”
This joke was made a few days before the gala dinner celebrating press freedom and freedom of expression in Washington, which was not supposed to feature a comedian this year. The president and first lady were evacuated from the dinner after shots were fired outside the venue, which was deemed an assassination attempt.
Last week, Disney stated that it had “a long-standing tradition of fully complying with FCC rules” and added that it was “ready to demonstrate this through appropriate legal channels.”
