The Federal Communications Commission is once again trying to muzzle those who poke fun at President Donald Trump.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered early license reviews of Disney’s eight owned-and-operated ABC stations on Tuesday, according to Reuters, signaling a significant escalation in its battle with the media and free speech.
A source with knowledge of the development told NBC it’s “unprecedented.” The FCC is forcing Disney to reapply for licenses that don’t expire until at least 2028.
The move seems like clear retribution for a joke that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made about Trump’s age, in which he described first lady Melania Trump as having the glow of “an expectant widow.”
Days later, an armed man opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that the president was attending, prompting Melania Trump to demand that Disney’s subsidiary ABC fire Kimmel, who has insisted that the joke was “obviously ... about their age difference.”
