A late-night comedian made a joke about the age difference between a 79-year-old president and his 56-year-old wife. Now, the federal government is threatening to take away the broadcast licenses of the network that airs his show.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr — who is seen as Trump’s close ally at the nation’s broadcast regulator — is moving to ask for early renewal of all of Disney/ABC’s station licenses, according to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter and Semafor.
This kind of action hasn’t happened to a major network in decades. The licenses aren’t due for renewal for years, but the timing isn’t a coincidence.
Jimmy Kimmel joked at a mock correspondents’ dinner that Melania Trump had “the glow of an expectant widow” — a reference to the fact that Trump will turn 80 in June.
Trump and Melania called for his firing. The White House called Democrats a “cult of hatred.” Now, the federal agency that controls broadcast licenses is threatening to pull Disney’s.
The official reason?
Disney’s “diversity programs.” Carr claims there’s “evidence that suggests Disney was dividing and categorizing employees based on race and gender” — and wants to review whether the company is serving the “public interest.” The real reason is clearly visible: a president who is angry about a joke his wife didn’t like.
This is the second time Carr has targeted Kimmel.
Last year, he threatened ABC’s licenses after Kimmel made jokes about Charlie Kirk. A former FCC chief counsel compared Carr’s approach to “statements by a mob boss.” Seven former FCC commissioners — five of them Republicans — petitioned the agency to stop. Carr stood by his actions.
Carr has also started a “Pledge America Campaign,” encouraging networks to air “pro-American” content.
He told the New York Post he wants to “rebalance” the networks because they’ve become “mouthpieces” for anti-Trump programming. He describes this mission as ensuring broadcasters serve the public interest, even though it’s pretty clear he’s pushing the networks to serve Trump’s interests instead.
The airwaves belong to the public.
The FCC is supposed to protect those airwaves in the public interest — not use broadcast licenses as a weapon against comedians who make jokes about the president’s age.
A government that tries to take away your license because a late-night host made a joke about a widow isn’t protecting anyone’s interests.
It’s just setting up a protection racket like a mob boss.
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