The National Association of Broadcasters is criticizing Donald Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for its scrutiny of Disney and ABC over a joke by Jimmy Kimmel.
In a statement Wednesday, the head of the top industry trade group said Carr’s move to initiate an early review of the ABC stations’ licenses “creates significant uncertainty” for broadcasters. Carr for more than a year has maintained that major media companies are breaching their “public interest obligations” in various ways.
A mock-roast delivered by Kimmel last Friday, 24 hours before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, included a joke that First Lady Melania Trump had the “glow of an expectant widow.” Given the attempt on Trump’s life at the WHCD, Trump, the First Lady and other Republicans have called for Kimmel’s firing, accusing him of fomenting political violence.
“The FCC’s broadcast license renewal process must be grounded in predictability, fairness and transparency, principles reflected in the license terms Congress established and later extended,” NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in the statement. “The Media Bureau’s nearly unprecedented request for one company to quickly reapply for all of its licenses – rather than utilize its traditional enforcement process – runs contrary to these principles and creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters.”
He added, “Broadcast stations already face intense challenges as they work to deliver trusted journalism, lifesaving emergency services, community programming and election coverage. The FCC must be careful to avoid actions that create further instability for the local stations viewers and listeners depend on.”
Kimmel has pushed back firmly against the accusations, saying Monday that his “light roast” of the Trumps was never intended as “a call to assassination.” The following night, Kimmel took note of the president’s own joke about his own mortality, saying he is the one who should be fired.
Not everyone on the right is onboard with the Kimmel castigation. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Punchbowl News that “it is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should serve as the speech police.”
LeGeyt and the NAB have faced a dilemma during Trump’s second term, with Carr routinely blasting his critiques of NAB member companies across social media. Given the importance of preserving relations with the FCC, which has a say over a range of local station matters and must approve any mergers involving the transfer of broadcast licenses, LeGeyt has deliberately avoided a direct clash with his Washington counterpart. As Deadline’s Ted Johnson reported in 2025, the NAB has also taken out ads saluting Carr and the FCC.
The annual NAB Show in Las Vegas earlier this month represented a departure from customs that have endured over many decades. Carr did not attend and the trade show’s program did not feature a traditional panel involving the heads of the NAB, FCC and other regulators.
MORE to come …
