Brendan Carr Insists Early ABC License Review Not About Jimmy Kimmel
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, on Thursday stressed that the commission’s early review of licenses for eight ABC stations is not about a spat between President Donald Trump and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Instead, Carr stated the review was tied to a year-long complaint about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) “discrimination” practices, which the administration tackled from the first days following Trump’s return to office last year.
“The investigation’s all about diversity,” Carr said in response to reporter questions at a press conference, adding, “The FCC shouldn’t be in the business of being the speech police. What we have to do as an agency is to enforce our rules and regulations, and there are rules about non-discrimination that are unrelated to speech that we have been pushing across the board, and that’s the basis for the early renewal in the Disney case.”
The early renewal review is targeting eight Disney-owned ABC stations, and the timing has raised questions and suspicions of retaliation, coming just days after Trump lashed out at Kimmel and tried to link the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner the previous weekend to a joke Kimmel made.
Kimmel, during a pretend roast hosted before the correspondents’ dinner, said that First Lady Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow.” Kimmel has said the joke is about the age difference between the president-who is about to turn 80-and the first lady, who is 56.
However, Trump has accused the late-night host of issuing a “call to violence” in light of the attempt at the Washington Hilton last week.
Brendan Carr Says DEI is Focus of FCC Review
Carr fielded questions from reporters, trying to discuss a number of initiatives the commission planned to tackle in the coming months-including a plan to push ahead with satellite broadcast and direct-to-phone service-but reporters instead focused on the timing of the ABC station reviews and the fallout following Kimmel’s joke.
Carr said that the review relates to concerns over discrimination, noting: “In March of last year, where I wrote a letter to Disney, saying that there was evidence … or allegations indicating that Disney, through this sort of invidious form of DEI discrimination, was creating, as I specify in the letter to them, racially segregated spaces inside the company.
“There was other allegations that went to Disney forcing racial and identity quotas or preferences, and I said at the time that if that pans out, that’s a big deal,” Carr said. “You know, we need to sort of end any form of discrimination based on race or protected class.
“So, we announced this investigation going all the way back to March. We said the Enforcement Bureau would be looking at it,” Carr said. “I believe it was in June that we sent our first letter of inquiry to Disney on this topic, and they provided us, you know, LOIs is our version of discovery or subpoenas effectively. They provided us with hundreds of documents at the time. And I’ve been consistent and very public … I’ve been saying for months that one thing that we’re looking at in that investigation is an early renewal if that’s where sort of the investigative steps tell us it needs to go.”
What Did Donald Trump say about Jimmy Kimmel?
Trump, in a lengthy post on Truth Social earlier this week, accused Kimmel of making a “call to violence” when he made a joke at a faux-roast held just
“He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.’ A day later a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives,” Trump wrote in his initial post.
“He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason,” Trump wrote, alluding to the fact that the shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, had said he was targeting Trump administration officials who gathered at the dinner-including the president-prioritized “from highest-ranking to lowest.”
“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel's despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” Trump added.
On Thursday, the president wrote a more explicit message, asking, “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television?”
Kimmel expressed sympathy for the president and first lady, who were in attendance at the Washington Hilton when the shooting occurred, but he defended the joke and did not apologize for it as of Thursday.
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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 12:31 PM.