ACLU Tries To Force FCC To Hand Over Records Related to ABC Early License Renewal Process

The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking records from the Federal Communications Commission about the decision to start an early-renewal process for eight ABC-owned stations, hoping to gain more information about what went into the decision. In April, the FCC initiated an early renewal process for the stations. The FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, told reporters that the decision was made after ABC’s parent company, the Walt Disney Company, failed to produce documentation about its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The ACLU is not buying that explanation. Critics have suggested the FCC is trying to punish ABC after its late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, made what turned out to be an ill-timed joke about First Lady Melania Trump having a “glow” like an “expectant widow.” The comment came just days before a gunman tried to storm into the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which Mr. and Mrs. Trump and other members of the president’s administration were in attendance. In a Freedom of Information Act request filed on Tuesday, the ACLU said, “The FCC’s call for early license renewal came after the President and First Lady publicly criticized a joke about the President that aired on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 23, 2026.”“Just one day after the President and First Lady’s remarks, the FCC issued an order requiring Disney ‘to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days.’ The stations’ licenses were otherwise not due for renewal until between 2028 and 2031,” the filing said. Lawyers for the ACLU said that in light of other “retaliatory” action against ABC, there is “little doubt about the FCC’s true goals.”The FOIA request pointed out that after Mr. Kimmel appeared to suggest that members of what he called the “MAGA gang” were behind the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year, Mr. Carr said that Disney should take action against its late-night host, adding, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Those comments were widely perceived as threatening action against ABC. However, Mr. Carr said during a press conference last September that there was “no threat made or suggested that if Jimmy Kimmel didn’t get fired, that someone was going to lose their license.” The FCC chairman insisted he was simply saying that if ABC did not take action, a third-party could file a complaint against the network with the FCC, which the agency would be statutorily obligated to investigate. The ACLU also noted that the FCC opened an investigation into ABC’s “The View” over an alleged equal time rule violation stemming from its February interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.The FOIA request referenced FCC actions targeting other networks, such as the investigation into CBS News’s October 2024 interview with Vice President Harris.“Given the FCC’s apparent vendetta against broadcasters who say things the President doesn’t like – the public must know the truth about the FCC’s reasons for requiring 8 ABC stations to renew their broadcast licenses years early,” the ACLU said. The FOIA request seeks documents related to the decision to launch the early renewal process. It also seeks communications between FCC employees and commissioners about the decision, and any communications from Mr. and Mrs. Trump, Vice President Vance, and other White House staffers.

ACLU Tries To Force FCC To Hand Over Records Related to ABC Early License Renewal Process

ACLU Tries To Force FCC To Hand Over Records Related to ABC Early License Renewal Process

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