The FCC just slapped Disney with a formal “unlawful discrimination” action, and somewhere in Burbank, a room full of executives who thought they were untouchable just spit out their $14 lattes. Turns out you can’t use public airwaves — airwaves that belong to *us*, by the way — to run a nightly partisan hit operation and expect the government to keep rubber-stamping your broadcast license like nothing happened.
But sure, Disney, tell us again how Jimmy Kimmel crying into the camera five nights a week about how Trump is destroying democracy is just “comedy.” Comedy is when people laugh, guys. What you’ve been running is a taxpayer-subsidized DNC infomercial with a laugh track, and the FCC finally decided to read the fine print on your permission slip.
Here’s what happened. The FCC took formal action against Disney — the parent company of ABC — citing unlawful discrimination. This isn’t some sternly worded letter that gets filed in a drawer next to last year’s HR complaints. This is legal action with actual teeth. It comes after months of escalating tension between the Trump administration and legacy media companies that treat their broadcast licenses like a divine right rather than what they actually are: a privilege granted by the American public, contingent on serving the public interest.
And let’s be crystal clear about what “serving the public interest” means. It doesn’t mean handing Jimmy Kimmel a microphone every night so he can call half the country stupid. It doesn’t mean running wall-to-wall coverage framing every Trump policy as the opening scene of a dystopian movie. It means using the airwaves — which, again, belong to *we the people* — in a way that doesn’t actively discriminate against the majority of Americans who voted for the sitting president.
Disney has operated for years under the assumption that they’re too big to touch. They own ABC, ESPN, Hulu, the theme parks, the cruise lines, and roughly 40% of every childhood memory you have. They figured that kind of cultural dominance made them bulletproof. They figured wrong.
The FCC action is tied directly to the ongoing Kimmel and ABC backlash — the same backlash Disney has been trying to pretend doesn’t exist. You know the playbook: ignore the criticism, label anyone who complains as a culture warrior, and keep cashing checks. Except the checks are getting smaller. Disney’s stock has been a dumpster fire for three years. Their movies are bombing. Their theme park prices have become a parody of themselves. And now the one thing they thought was safe — their broadcast license — is under review.
We’ve been saying this for years: the broadcast spectrum is public property. Networks don’t own it. They borrow it. And borrowing comes with conditions. You wouldn’t let someone borrow your truck and then use it to run over your mailbox every night, would you? That’s essentially what Disney has been doing with ABC — borrowing our airwaves to attack our values, our president, and our common sense.
The left is already screaming “First Amendment!” Which is adorable, because the First Amendment protects your right to say what you want. It does not guarantee you a broadcast license funded by public spectrum to say it. You want to call Trump the devil? Start a podcast. Buy a billboard. Scream it on a street corner. But when you’re using airwaves that belong to 330 million Americans, there are rules. And Disney just found out those rules apply to them, too.
Let’s also talk about the timing. This action comes at a moment when trust in legacy media is at an all-time low. Gallup has it in the basement. Americans don’t trust ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC to tell them whether it’s raining outside, let alone to cover politics fairly. And Disney’s response to that collapse in trust has been… to double down. More Kimmel rants. More partisan panels. More condescension masquerading as journalism.
Well, the FCC just sent a message: the free ride is over.
Now, will Disney fight this? Of course they will. They’ve got more lawyers than Disneyland has churro stands. They’ll file motions, issue press releases about “chilling effects on free speech,” and probably get a few sympathetic judges to slow things down. But the precedent is set. The FCC is willing to use its authority to hold broadcasters accountable for discriminatory content practices. That’s a sea change.
For decades, conservative Americans have watched network television treat them like the villain in every story. We’ve watched our values mocked, our leaders smeared, and our intelligence insulted — all on airwaves we collectively own. And every time we complained, we were told to change the channel.
We’re not changing the channel anymore. We’re changing the rules.
Disney wanted to play politics with a public license. The FCC just reminded them that the public gets a vote. And right now, the public is voting to hold the Mouse accountable.
Welcome to the trap, Mickey. You built it yourself.