Trump admin probe into ABC amid Kimmel row sparks US free speech concerns

President Donald Trump’s critics and free speech advocates in the United States are decrying a decision by his administration to review the broadcast licences of several ABC channels, calling the move “unconstitutional”.

The probe by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), announced on Tuesday, followed Trump and his wife, Melania, calling for the firing of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he told last week.

“The FCC’s unconstitutional threats against ABC are the latest confirmation that Chairman Brendan Carr has weaponised what should be an independent agency in service of Donald Trump’s personal political agenda,” Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders in North America, said in a statement.

“The FCC has no authority to revoke ABC’s licences just because the president can’t take a joke.”

The FCC said it launched the investigation into the eight local ABC channels, compelling them to file for early licence renewal, over diversity measures that amount to possible “unlawful discrimination”.

But critics have underscored the timing of the review amid the Kimmel controversy.

“Must be a total coincidence that the FCC launched this probe right after Jimmy Kimmel told another joke Trump didn’t like,” US Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, wrote on X.

“The FCC can try to dress this up however they want, but this is just another flagrant attempt to silence Trump critics & stifle free speech.”

Amnesty International USA also accused the FCC of using authoritarian tactics. “The agency must start taking its responsibility to respect freedom of the press and freedom of expression seriously,” the rights group said in a statement.

Ted Cruz denounces review

The FCC decision sparked rare Republican criticism of the Trump administration by US Senator Ted Cruz.

“It is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,” Cruz told the outlet Punchbowl News.

Days earlier, the White House had berated Kimmel as the Trumps called for his termination after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association gala dinner in Washington, DC.

Kimmel had made a joke before the gala that Trump and his supporters had pushed to link to the shooting incident, which prosecutors said targeted the US president.

At an “alternative” White House correspondents’ dinner on his show on Thursday, Kimmel said: “Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

On Monday, Kimmel dismissed the outrage over the joke, saying that it “obviously” was not a call to violence.

“[It] was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together. It was a very light roast joke,” he said on his Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.

Kimmel later latched on to a comment that Trump himself had made about his own age.

During a speech welcoming Great Britain’s King Charles on Tuesday, the US president told his wife that they “won’t be able to match” his parents’ record of 63 years of marriage.

Kimmel aired Trump’s joke on his Tuesday night show and said, “Wait a minute. Did he just make a joke about his death? My god. He should be fired for that.”

Disney responds

This is not the first time Trump and his allies have targeted Kimmel.

Last year, ABC briefly suspended Kimmel after the FCC threatened to take action against the network over commentary by the comedian suggesting that the killer of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk may have been a Republican.

Kimmel subsequently returned to his show after an outcry from free speech advocates.

ABC has not taken action against Kimmel this time around despite Trump’s calls for his firing.

Disney, ABC’s parent company, said 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,” a spokesperson for Disney told several US news outlets on Tuesday.

“Our focus remains, as always, on serving viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”

Efforts to revoke the broadcast licence of existing channels is likely to face legal and administrative challenges, turning into a years-long process.

The last time the FCC succeeded in revoking a broadcasting licence over a station’s content was in 1969 – a local TV channel in Mississippi that was accused of discriminating against African Americans during the civil rights movement.

‘Egregious assault’

Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said the agency’s move against ABC is “unprecedented”, “unlawful” and “bound to fail”.

“This is the most egregious assault on the First Amendment that we have seen from this FCC,” Gomez told CNN.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution bans the government from prohibiting or “abridging” free speech.

The investigation against ABC on Tuesday coincided with federal prosecutors filing criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey over a social media post.

Comey had shared an image of seashells spelling out “8647” in May of last year; “86” is slang for getting rid of or discarding something, and Trump is the 47th US president.

The Justice Department accused Comey – a vocal critic of Trump – of “knowingly and willfully” making “a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States”.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told CBS News on Wednesday that the charges were “positively not” politically motivated.

As a candidate, Trump vowed to “restore free speech”. But since he returned to the White House for a second term starting in January 2025, critics have accused his administration of pushing to silence dissent, particularly Palestinian rights advocacy.

Last year, the Trump administration launched a campaign to deport non-citizens – including foreign students and legal permanent residents – over criticism of Israel.