FCC Denies Kimmel Retaliation Claim as It Moves to Toss ABC Lawsuit

The FCC says Jimmy Kimmel has nothing to do with its early review of the broadcast licenses held by ABC’s owned-and-operated stations.

In a court filing late Thursday, the agency asked a federal judge to dismiss ABC’s lawsuit challenging the review, while rejecting the network’s claim that the move was retaliation over Jimmy Kimmel Live! and other programming that has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump.

ABC has argued that the timing speaks for itself. On April 27, Donald Trump called on the network to fire Jimmy Kimmel after taking offense at a monologue joke. The very next day, the FCC ordered ABC’s stations to apply for license renewals years ahead of schedule.

The FCC’s response: look a week earlier.

According to the agency, Disney submitted what FCC staff considered an inadequate response to an ongoing investigation into the company’s diversity and employment practices on April 21. The early renewal order came seven days later. The commission says that investigation had already been underway for more than a year by then.

In other words, the FCC’s argument is that the April 28 order was about Disney’s dealings with investigators, not what Kimmel said on television.

That distinction is central to ABC’s lawsuit. The network says the FCC has been using its regulatory power over local stations as leverage over ABC programming critical of Trump, including Kimmel and The View. The FCC says there’s no evidence the early renewal proceeding would not have happened anyway.

The filing also revisits one of Brendan Carr’s more pointed comments from the spring. After the early renewal order, the FCC chairman told the Financial Times, “If you didn’t take us seriously, now you should.”

ABC has cited that remark as part of a broader pattern of threats and pressure.

The agency concedes that calling stations in for renewal early is highly unusual. But the commission notes that Carr had talked publicly about bringing the practice back before Trump’s April comments about Kimmel, and that another broadcaster was also ordered into early renewal around the same time.

The FCC makes another argument that will sound familiar to anyone who followed Kimmel’s brief suspension last year: ABC is still making its own programming decisions.

“Jimmy Kimmel and The View remain on the air,” government lawyers note in the filing, arguing that Disney continues to control what its shows do and don’t say. The agency also points to Disney’s own explanation that it—not the FCC—made the decision to briefly pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2025 before returning the show days later.

ABC filed its suit against the FCC last month, asking the court to stop the early license proceeding. The agency says the case is premature because it has not denied any licenses—or even decided whether the renewal applications should go to a hearing.

A federal judge is expected to hear arguments in the case in early October.