Jane Fonda slams FCC’s ABC license review amid Kimmel Melania jokes.

Jane FondaThe actor and activist is the founder of the Modern First Amendment Committee. FCC order requiring Disney’s ABC-owned local stations to apply for early renewal of broadcast licenses. The agency’s order comes a day after President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump asked Disney and ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel for joking that Melania looked like a “pregnant woman.”

“FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s recent order to review the broadcasting licenses of all ABC stations is a blatant attempt to weaponize government power against dissent,” Fonda said. manifold.

Fonda continued: “What we are seeing fits a deliberate and deeply troubling pattern of authoritarian regimes throughout history. This should be a wake-up call to anyone who believes in the First Amendment and the fundamental principle that government has no power to decide who speaks in a free society. Together, we must point out clearly and forcefully what this is: a systematic use of federal power to narrow the scope of acceptable speech until only authorized voices remain.”

The FCC’s Media Bureau said in the order that it had requested ABC’s licenses for eight owned-and-operated stations for early review following investigations into Disney and ABC for possible violations of the FCC’s “unlawful discrimination prohibition.” This means the FCC is specifically examining the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices of media giants.

But the timing of the order left the distinct impression that the FCC was acting in response to conservatives’ outrage over Kimmel’s joke. License renewals for the ABC’s eight stations were due as early as 2028, with some stations not renewing until 2031.

In response to the FCC’s order, a Disney spokesperson said in part: “ABC and its stations are fully compliant with FCC regulations and have a long history of providing trusted news, emergency information and public interest programming to the community. We are confident that this record demonstrates our continued qualifications as a licensee under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and we are prepared to do so through the appropriate legal channels.”

The FCC had no comment beyond the Media Bureau’s order.

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ aired on April 27th. The late-night host defended his comments about Melania. “It’s a very light-hearted roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 years old and she’s younger than me. By no definition does that call for assassination. And they know it.” “I agree that we must reject hateful and violent rhetoric,” he added. “And I think the best place to start to turn this around is to have a conversation with my husband.”

Last October, Fonda relaunched the First Amendment Commission.is an initiative founded by her father, Henry Fonda, during the McCarthy era in the 1940s to protect against attacks on free speech.