FCC Orders Disney to File Renewals for 8 ABC Stations Within 30 Days After a Jimmy Kimmel Joke About Melania Trump

On April 28, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission issued an order directing Disney to file license renewals for its eight owned ABC broadcast stations by May 28, opening an early review of those licenses. The stations are WABC in New York, KABC in Los Angeles, WLS in Chicago, KTRK in Houston, KGO in San Francisco, WPVI in Philadelphia, WTVD in Durham and KFSN in Fresno. The order did not name Jimmy Kimmel and attributed the action to investigations of Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion practices. It followed an April 23 Kimmel joke describing the first lady as having "a glow like an expectant widow" and Melania Trump's April 27 statement accusing him of "hateful and violent rhetoric." Commissioner Anna Gomez, the agency's lone Democrat, called the action "unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere."

Broadcast licenses are the FCC's most direct point of leverage over television networks, and renewal reviews are ordinarily routine and scheduled. Accelerating them for a network whose late-night host mocked the president's family links a regulatory proceeding to the content of protected speech.

Disney's renewal filings were due May 28, 2026.