FCC orders review of ABC licenses after Kimmel joke offends Trump and first lady

The uproar is over a Kimmel joke during a skit in which he pretended to deliver a roast at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “Our first lady, Melania, is here… So beautiful, Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said. Kimmel also suggested in his pretend roast that Trump and his wife were introduced to each other by Jeffrey Epstein. ABC owns eight TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno. The stations’ licenses were originally scheduled for renewals between 2028 and 2031, a Disney spokesperson told Ars today. “ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming,” Disney said in a statement provided to Ars. “We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.” “Retribution for a joke Donald Trump didn’t like” Anna Gomez, the only Democratic FCC commissioner, said in a statement today that the Disney review “is the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date. As part of its ongoing campaign of censorship and control, the White House called publicly for the silencing of a vocal critic, and this FCC has now answered that call. …