The FCC Targets Disney-Owned Local TV Affiliates Over DEI Complaints

On Tuesday, the FCC ordered an early review of Disneys eight ABC station licenses:

The FCC licenses ABC‘s TV stations across the country to broadcast their programming over publicly owned airwaves. And it’s extremely unusual for the FCC to do a group of early reviews, especially when all of them are owned by the same media company:

FCC Head Carr Threatened ABC In March Over DEI Issues

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr had signaled this review of Disney‘s licenses might be on the way when he announced on March 28th that he had asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Disney & ABC:

If the evidence does in fact play out and shows that they were engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination, thats a very serious issue at the FCC, that could fundamentally go to their character qualifications to even hold a license, Carr told Fox in April.

Disney Responds To FCC Inquiry

In response, Disney said it has received FCC early license renewal request and is confident that its “record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and we are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels. Our focus remains, as always, on serving viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”

FCC Move Apparently In The Works Before Kimmels Jokes About Melania

When news broke Tuesday about the proposed early license examination, many observers suggested the move might be tied to comments made by the ABC late night host last Thursday:

That joke – and others from Kimmel aimed at the First Lady – prompted her to post a complaint on the social media platform X:

Her husband, President Trump, later weighed in with his own complaints on Truth Social:

While the comments from Kimmel didnt help the situation, this FCC move seems to have already been in the works before his monologue.