Outrage moves at the speed of social media in the Donald Trump era, but the wheels of media regulation turn far more slowly.
That is the main takeaway from Deadline’s conversations in recent days with more than a dozen sources across media, Washington and Wall Street about the clash between ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and the Trump administration.
Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and others have seized on Kimmel’s late-night monologue Friday. They say his joke about the first lady having the “glow like an expectant widow” contributed to Saturday’s shooting targeting Trump and other officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and should be a fireable offense. Kimmel has pushed back, insisting the line was far from “a call to assassination” and noting that Trump himself had made light of his own mortality.
Carr has said the licenses of ABC’s eight TV stations, which are up for renewal between 2028 and 2031, are going to receive an early review. ABC and Disney have until May 28 to complete its renewal applications. In response to a request that trade group NAB complained was “nearly unprecedented,” Disney issued a statement saying it is “confident” in being granted the renewals.
Behind the scenes, Disney insiders say some lessons were learned from the last bout of rancor over Kimmel. Last fall, ABC was blasted over an on-air Kimmel quip about Trump supporters’ reaction to conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s shooting death. Facing pressure from Carr and a host of right-wing influencers and politicians, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled off the air by major station groups Nexstar and Sinclair and then suspended by ABC before returning after a few days.
While Kimmel never formally apologized and no pound of flesh was taken by the administration, the upshot was that Disney was believed to have acted a bit too hastily. Its statement that Kimmel’s show was being suspended “indefinitely” raised a host of questions about its long-term future. Even with a new CEO and a new structure under Dana Walden, who was promoted to president and chief creative officer as Josh D’Amaro succeeded Bob Iger as CEO, the stance from Disney has been to exercise more patience. Meetings are not being called with Kimmel and his staff. Distance is being observed from the process. “We know what Jimmy is going to say about the situation by tuning in every night at 11:35,” one waggish insider insisted.
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A similar keep-calm-and-carry-on M.O. has taken hold at Nexstar, the No. 1 owner of local TV stations. While its executives have embraced Trump’s more permissive stance on M&A, the company finds itself in a predicament over a federal judge’s ruling freezing its $6.2 billion merger with rival Tegna. As it looks to prevail on appeal and close the deal, company execs say the plan is to avoid sticking any necks out on an issue where even some conservatives warn of overreach by those looking to muzzle Kimmel.
Experts in the process of license renewals tell Deadline that for all the vows to hold media companies accountable for perceived lapses in honoring the “public interest obligation” required of all license holders, the record tells a different story. For all of the carpet-bombing on social media calling for licensing to be pulled or other punishments, Carr hasn’t taken action on any of the complaints he has lodged. Notably, the “news distortion” charges against CBS News over 60 Minutes led to an FCC investigation but no further action.
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If Carr or other regulators were to take action against ABC over the latest Kimmel comments, it could open the door to a lawsuit. Legal experts say such a case would have a strong basis on First Amendment grounds if it were to go to federal court in the D.C. Circuit.
A veteran of the regulatory trenches adds that even the license-renewal process unto itself could take years to unfold, a far cry from the trapdoor many on the right would like to see quickly open up under Kimmel’s feet. Prior to this week’s early renewal order, the last notable example of such an action by the FCC came when a radio station in Mississippi changed its format in 1972. Even in that very different set of circumstances, the process played out over many years.
Last October, shortly after the resolution of the Kirk-related episode, Kimmel reflected on it at a Bloomberg conference appearance, seeming to indicate he and his writers and not likely crafting his monologue in isolation this time around.
“I don’t think the result, which I think turned out to be very positive, would have been as positive if I hadn’t talked to Dana as much as I did,” he said, “because it helped me think everything through, and it helped me understand where everyone was coming from because I can sometimes be reactionary.”
Ted Johnson, Peter White and Dominic Patten contributed to this report.
