Disney & ABC Sue Trump’s FCC Amid Threats Against ‘The View’ and Kimmel

The Walt Disney Company and ABC have filed a lawsuit in federal court against Donald Trump‘s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), alleging a violation of the station’s First Amendment rights.

According to CNN, the lawsuit filed in DC District Court alleges that the FCC “has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts… That campaign began in this Administration’s earliest days and has only intensified since.”

The suit comes amid Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordering an investigation into ABC’s The View over an alleged violation of “equal-time,” a rarely enforced rule that says the show must provide equivalent access and airtime opportunities to competing political candidates.

Back in April, Carr ordered Disney’s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals, even though the licenses were not due for renewal for several years. The FCC is also conducting an investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

“The Commission issued an unprecedented order requiring the Stations to file early applications to renew their licenses—years before any of their licenses would have come up for renewal in the ordinary course and allowing only thirty days to file applications which ordinarily take months to prepare,” the suit read.

In addition, the suit said the FCC pressure has impacted what airs on The View. Since the investigation began, ABC said it has become “more circumspect in booking political candidates” and has “chosen not to air clips” it otherwise would have used because they could count as candidate “appearances.”

The FCC’s probes into ABC followed last year’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! controversy when host Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily suspended over backlash to a joke about the Charlie Kirk assassination. At the time, President Trump railed against Kimmel on social media, saying ABC should fire the long-serving late-night host.

Trump again ranted against Kimmel earlier this year after the comedian made a quip about First Lady Melania Trump. The president complained that late-night shows “are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump” and asked if broadcast licenses should “be terminated?”

The lawsuit cites Trump’s social media posts in its filing.

Earlier this year, Carr ally Daniel Suhr, president of the Center for American Rights, said, “It is not in the public interest for ABC to operate as an arm of the DNC.”

The suit asked for the court to “immediately” stop the FCC “from taking or threatening to take any action” against Disney and ABC stations “in relation to the early license renewal applications.” It also asked the court to “enter a temporary restraining order.”

Correction 08/22/26: A previous version of this article incorrectly attributed Suhr’s quote to Carr.