Democratic senators qualify early revision of Disney station licenses as abuse of power

A group of ten American democratic senators demanded on Thursday that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr explain why he had ordered an early review of the licenses of eight ABC stations owned by Walt Disney DIS.N. The senators, including Ed Markey, Chuck Schumer, and Maria Cantwell, described the move as “the latest and most extreme step in your use of FCC power in licensing as a weapon against broadcasters whose editorial choices displease the president.” Carr’s decision came just a day after President Donald Trump publicly demanded the dismissal of Jimmy Kimmel, the host of a late-night show on ABC, for a joke he made.

Disney has until May 28 to respond. The FCC has not revoked a broadcasting license in over forty years.

Carr, who previously denied that the White House pressured him to take this action, and Disney have not immediately responded to a request for comments.

The senators want to know if Carr or his team had any contact with White House members in the days leading up to the decision regarding Disney.

“You have effectively turned the FCC’s authority over public airwaves into an instrument of presidential retaliation against constitutionally protected freedom of expression,” the senators stated in a letter to Carr.

Disney’s broadcasting licenses were not due for review until October 2028. After a joke by Kimmel prompted calls from the White House for ABC to fire the comedian, the FCC ordered an early review of the licenses on Tuesday.

Kimmel parodied the longtime comedian’s role at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on his ABC show, joking that First Lady Melania Trump had “the glow of a pending widow.”

This joke was made a few days before the gala dinner celebrating press freedom and freedom of expression in Washington, which was not supposed to feature a comedian this year. The president and first lady were evacuated from the dinner after shots were fired outside the venue, which was deemed an assassination attempt.

Last week, Disney stated that it had “a long tradition of fully respecting FCC rules” and expressed its readiness to “demonstrate this through appropriate legal means.”