FCC Commissioner Says Probe Into Disney Over Kimmel’s Trump Joke Is ‘Outrageous Assault on Freedom of Speech’

A commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission called a reported probe into Disney’s broadcast licenses following a Jimmy Kimmel joke about President Donald Trump an “outrageous assault on freedom of speech.

Anna Gomez, appointed as an FCC commissioner under former President Joe Biden, joined MS NOW’s Chris Hayes on Tuesday evening and blasted FCC Chair Brendan Carr over a probe into Disney’s broadcast licenses.

Disney is the parent company of ABC, which airs Kimmel’s late-night show. Kimmel refused to apologize this week for a joke that has earned him pushback from First Lady Melania Trump and plenty of other White House officials.

“Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel joked last week.

The remark earned scrutiny following a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which Trump attended. Kimmel was previously temporarily suspended by ABC after a joke referring to conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination last year. Carr mentioned at the time that the FCC was reviewing licenses for companies like Disney.

Gomez said the probe into Disney is simply retaliation against a vocal critic of the president.

“What we saw today was the White House called for the silencing of a vocal critic and the FCC answered that call,” she said. “What the FCC did today was it issued an order to renew, to start the renewal process for Disney-owned local broadcast stations, and that renewal process is years in advance of when that was supposed to happen, but this is all just as an excuse in order to retaliate against voices that this administration opposes.”

Gomez pushed Disney to fight back, arguing the First Amendment is on their side regarding Kimmel.

“This is an outrageous assault on the freedom of speech by this FCC in order to retaliate against Disney and against the critics of this administration,” she said. “It is unprecedented, it is unlawful, and it is bound to fail. So Disney should push back because Disney has the First Amendment on its side and it will win against this FCC action.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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