The Kimmel Controversy Escalates: FCC Will Reportedly Challenge ABC Station Broadcast Licenses
Amy & T.J.
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
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Summary
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to review ABC owned stations broadcast licenses, even though they’re years away from being up for renewal. It’s widely believed this is in direct retaliation for Jimmy Kimmel’s late night joke saying Melania Trump was glowing like an “expectant widow.” White House spokesman Steven Cheung went so far as to post on X that Kimmel is a “sh*t human being” who should be shunned for the rest of his life.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.9 | Hey, the folks, it is Tuesday, April 28th, and things are escalating. |
| 0:12.7 | They are now threatening ABC, Disney, and many of their biggest TV stations over licenses, but don't worry, it's not because |
| 0:25.8 | of Jimmy Kimmel. Welcome to this episode of Amy and T.J. You buy that? No. Okay. No, you sure? |
| 0:32.9 | Yes. Timing is everything and speaks volumes and sure they can say this is about DEI policies all they want. |
| 0:41.3 | But the point is this threat and it seems like it's coming soon that the FCC, which issues broadcast licenses to stations, this threat that they are now asking them to submit renewal applications |
| 0:59.7 | years before they're even due just so happens to come exactly when Jimmy Kimmel made his joke |
| 1:07.8 | and is staying on the air. |
| 1:10.1 | Okay, so it could be a wild coincidence, but I'll go with |
| 1:13.5 | your theory for now. And that theory, of course, being you know the back and forth by now. |
| 1:19.2 | Jimmy Kimmel made a joke. The president didn't like it. The first lady didn't like it and actually |
| 1:25.3 | said that he should be taken off the air. He wasn't taken off the |
| 1:29.6 | air. He went on last night. Say what he had to say. It looks like Robes. At least that part of it is over. |
| 1:34.7 | ABC Disney, not going to punish him. Well, this would be punishment. Nobody's suggesting that they've |
| 1:44.1 | done anything that their license could |
| 1:46.0 | actually be taken away robes, but this would be a very long and expensive headache. |
| 1:51.8 | Yes, I think someone, I want to give the outlet the, the, the, the due, because this was the |
| 1:58.2 | perfect way to put it. They said the process is the punishment. |
| 2:03.7 | Putting stations, putting Disney, putting ABC through the process of trying to reapply and argue |
| 2:11.5 | their point for renewing their license years before it's even due to expire or said to expire |
| 2:17.2 | is going to be |
| 2:18.5 | an arduous and expensive and frankly unnecessary process that could be imposed on them by |
... |
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