It could be more than talk as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by Brendan Carr, President Donald Trump’s pick as chairman, has begun the license renewal process for ABC at this time.
ABC was directed by the FCC to file early renewals for its licensed TV stations by May 28, or within 30 days.
That order applies to the eight affiliate stations owned by ABC, including those in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
The FCC has already been investigating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) practices for The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC.
Kimmel, two days before the third known assassination attempt on Donald Trump as it so happened, made a crude remark involving the first lady and her president husband. Defending himself later, Kimmel called the parody skit of a roast just a joke.
Showing a video clip of Melania Trump at an outdoor event, Kimmel said, “Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
There’s been no reported connection between Kimmel and Cole Thomas Allen, who rushed the security screening area at the Washington Hilton with a shotgun, handgun and knives, and now faces charges of attempted assassination of the president.
The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) are approaching the Kimmel situation more directly than the FCC’s license review. The group is asking the FCC to investigate Kimmel’s comments, which are protected by the First Amendment — but speech that incites violence is not protected. That’s the point NRB wants to make.
The NRB doesn’t officially endorse political candidates, but the Christian community it serves voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
NRB urged caution last fall
Last September, Kimmel was suspended by ABC for five days after comments during his monologue about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
"We hit some new lows over the weekend," Kimmel lectured, "with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid, who murdered Charlie Kirk, as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."
Critics and friends of Kirk were outraged the late-night comedian was blaming the Right for Kirk's assassination.
“NRB took a position actually urging caution, when there was suggestion that ABC would lose its license because of the prior Jimmy Kimmel thing, because that was more about political content, so-called disinformation and that sort of thing. That's almost certainly politically protected in the First Amendment. But this is different,” Michael Farris, the general counsel for NRB, said on American Family Radio Wednesday.
The Supreme Court case Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) established that the First Amendment protects speech advocating for illegal action unless it is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.
The Court overturned the conviction of a Ku Klux Klan leader who had made inflammatory remarks, ruling that abstract advocacy of violence or lawbreaking is protected speech. This "imminent lawless action" test remains the standard for evaluating when speech can be restricted under U.S. law.
“When you incite violence, especially violence against the life of the president of the United States, you’re in a completely different First Amendment world,” Farris told show host Jenna Ellis.
Kimmel’s comments, when viewed in context, raise serious concerns about the normalization and potential incitement of political violence, NRB asserts.
“In this broader context of escalating violence, rhetoric that appears to trivialize or foreshadow harm against political leaders takes on heightened significance. Incitement to kill or inflict bodily harm on the President of the United States is a serious federal felony,” the group writes in its news release.
The idea that Kimmel’s comments could lead to violence is especially applicable in today’s political climate in which “approximately 30% — that’s a round number — of 18-30-year-olds think political violence is acceptable at times,” Farris said.
The numbers diminish among older demographics, but there are millions who believe such violence has a place, Farris noted.
Some say violence has its place
Last November, a Politico-Public First poll found that more than one-in-three Americans under the age of 45 agreed with the belief that violence is sometimes justified. Two of the three would-be Trump assassins have been under the age of 45.
“So, you have that kind of an atmosphere, and you have a person with the kind of the dignity, the responsibility of national television on licensed broadcasting, where they have a responsibility to uphold the public trust, saying that political violence is OK. And in fact, it’s invited here,” Farris said.
Farris said Kimmel’s “expectant widow” comment is clearly an implied invitation to commit violence. The hard part will be proving he intended it as such.
That’s why the investigation is important, he urged, not disciplinary action by ABC.
“There will be emails and other things, show notes, how they prepared. An investigation can show if he really thought this would produce the result of violence, and if he thought that, if he believed that, then I think you're going to have the three elements of the Brandenburg test fulfilled,” Farris said.
