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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to call the licenses of Disney for early license review as soon as Tuesday, marking a significant escalation into tensions between the media giant and the Trump administration, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
Disney-owned ABC affiliates will have to prove to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that they have been operating in the public interest. The licenses are not up for renewal for several years, but the FCC plans unprecedented action to accelerate their renewal on the heels of Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial “expectant widow” comment last week that prompted President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to call for termination.
Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Semafor first reported that the FCC would move toward a review of Disney’s broadcast licenses. The same report suggested the commission could decide not to follow through, but an FCC source told Fox News Digital that Disney-owned stations will indeed be called in for a full suite of reviews by Carr’s FCC.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The request is not expected to specifically mention Kimmel by name, but will instead be painted as a broad look at everything the Disney-owned stations air over publicly owned airwaves.
Kimmel did not apologize for the “widow” remark on his show Monday, instead doubling down by saying he clearly wasn’t calling for the president’s assassination, and it was instead a reference to the first couple’s age difference.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80, and she’s younger than I am. It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination — and they know that,” Kimmel said. “I’ve been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular, but I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house.”
The joke, which he made last week before Saturday night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, has come under fire in the wake of another apparent attempt on the president’s life. The suspected assailant has reportedly told authorities he wanted to target top Trump administration members who were in attendance.
This is a developing story, more to come…
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