Ted Cruz Rips FCC Over ABC Broadcast License Review Following Kimmel Joke: ‘It Is Not Government’s Job to Censor Speech’

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is a MAGA loyalist, but he thinks the Republican-controlled FCC stepped over the line in accelerating the renewal process for broadcast licenses of Disney’s eight ABC-owned local TV stations — seemingly in response to a joke Jimmy Kimmel told about Melania Trump on late-night television.

“It is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,” Cruz told political outlet Punchbowl News about the agency’s demand that ABC filed to renew licenses within 30 days. Variety has reached out to the senator’s office for additional comment.

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The FCC’s Media Bureau, in its April 28 order, said it was calling in ABC’s licenses for eight owned-and-operated stations for early review pursuant to an investigation into Disney and ABC over potential violations of the FCC’s “prohibition on unlawful discrimination” — i.e., the agency is probing the media conglomerate’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices.

Asked for comment about Cruz’s criticism, an FCC spokesperson said, “As the agency decision makes clear, the early renewal order is based on a long-running FCC investigation into Disney’s DEI conduct, not any speech.”

However, the timing of the order clearly left the impression that the FCC was acting in response to conservatives’ outrage over Kimmel’s comedy bit: It came a day after President Trump and Melania Trump called for Kimmel’s firing over his joke that Melania looked like an “expectant widow.”

Cruz has criticized FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s strongarm tactics before.

Carr, whom Trump appointed as the FCC’s chairman, in September 2025 called for ABC and local broadcasters to cancel Kimmel over the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder — implying they would otherwise be subject to “news distortion” investigations. In response to that, Cruz likened the FCC chair to a “mafioso” and warned that it is “unbelievably dangerous” to try to shut down speech the government doesn’t like.

At a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s FCC oversight hearing in December 2025, Cruz said he agreed with Carr “that Jimmy Kimmel is angry, overtly partisan and profoundly unfunny.” But, the senator said, “what the government cannot do is force private entities to take actions that the government cannot take directly. Government officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech.”

In a statement Tuesday about the FCC’s order, a Disney spokesperson said in part, “We are confident [ABC and its stations’] record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.”

The licenses for ABC’s eight stations were not due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest, with some not due until 2031.

On the April 27 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” the late-night host defended his remark about Melania as “a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that.”

Kimmel said, “I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” adding in a remark aimed at the First Lady, “And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”