Republican Sen. Ted Cruz says FCC chairman Brendan Carr is overstepping after the regulator demanded that Disney file for an early license renewal of ABC’s eight local broadcast stations.
“It is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,” Cruz told Punchbowl News after Carr requested that the move be made within 30 days, or by May 28.
The FCC’s request, which it says is tied to an investigation into “possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination,” comes after Carr previously threatened Disney’s license over its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
It also appears to be a response to ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who is once again in the Trump administration’s crosshairs for a joke he made about First Lady Melania Trump looking like an “expectant widow” following an assassination attempt against the president at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
This is not the first time Cruz has sparred with Carr over the FCC.
When Kimmel was temporarily pulled off the air last year following the FCC chair’s threat to “do this the easy way or the hard way” in response to comments the late night host made about Charlie Kirk, Cruz called Carr’s remarks and comments “dangerous as hell.”
“That’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it,’” he said at the time.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee later held an FCC oversight hearing, where Cruz agreed with Carr that Kimmel is “angry, overtly partisan and profoundly unfunny,” but said that the government can’t “force private entities to take actions that the government cannot take directly.”
“Government officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech,” Cruz added.
The earliest license renewal for ABC’s eight stations are not due in 2028, with others aren’t due until 2031.
A Disney spokesperson said that it received the FCC’s letter and believes “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.”
“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,” the company’s statement read. “Our focus remains, as always, on serving viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”
Meanwhile, Kimmel has defended the comments as 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,” he said.
He added that “hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject” and said in a comment directed at the First Lady that a “great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”
