FCC Chairman Denies White House Pressure to Launch Disney Investigation
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr publicly denied on Thursday that the White House exerted any pressure regarding its early license review of Disney-owned ABC television. He emphasized that the move stemmed from an investigation that the agency had been conducting for over a year and was unrelated to recent controversy surrounding talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's remarks.
Carr stated at an FCC press conference, "This was a decision we made internally based on the progress of enforcement. There was no outside pressure, no outside suggestions, and no external demands for action." He pointed out that the decision was based on a long-term investigation into Disney's "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies, and the agency believed Disney was "not forthcoming in its submissions, almost playing games with us."
Just before the FCC took action, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump had publicly called for ABC to fire Kimmel for calling Melania "a quasi-widow." This close timing raised widespread questions about the government using regulatory agencies to attack political critics.
Serious divisions also emerged within the FCC. The agency's sole Democratic commissioner denounced the move as a "thinly veiled pretext" and "a blatant assault on the First Amendment." Even some Republicans expressed reservations, with the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman stating, "The FCC's role should not be to act as a speech police." The early review involves ABC's eight local stations in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, whose licenses were originally scheduled to expire between 2028 and 2031.