Trump Impact

Disney sues FCC over challenge to broadcast licenses, claims retaliation over ‘Jimmy Kimmel’

ABC had accused the agency of a brazen attempt to chill its constitutionally protected free speech.

Associated Press
Mike Catalini

August 18, 2026

FILE - Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr departs an event in the East Room of the White House, March 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Disney filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission alleging a violation of its First Amendment rights.

The suit comes after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr recently defended the agency’s actions against ABC, saying broadcasters have a duty to “operate in the public interest” and the FCC is merely trying to restore that standard.

Carr has said the country should have a “trusted, respected news media, and we’re not there.”

ABC had accused the agency of a brazen attempt to chill its constitutionally protected free speech — and by extension, that of every media outlet in the country. The network’s July comments came in its latest filing to the agency, expressing its formal opposition to the FCC’s early review, launched in April, of eight ABC local broadcast licenses well before they expire.

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired. When the FCC launched its early review of ABC’s licenses in April, it came amid a fight with Kimmel over a joke that offended Trump. The agency cited diversity, equity and inclusion practices at the company.

Messages were sent seeking comment to the FCC and ABC.

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