A joke by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has escalated into a high-profile confrontation between the White House and the Walt Disney Company, creating the first major external challenge for Disney's new chief executive, Josh D'Amaro.
Last Thursday, on his ABC late-night program, Kimmel mocked the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner with a quip that the First Lady, Melania Trump, had "a glow like an expectant widow." The gag was aired three days prior to the black-tie event in Washington, which is intended to celebrate press freedom and free speech. During that dinner the president and first lady were rushed from the event following an assassination attempt.
On Monday, President Trump and the First Lady called for ABC to terminate Kimmel's employment. In response, during his Monday night monologue Kimmel said his remark had been misconstrued, insisting it was not a "call to assassination" but rather a comment on the age difference between the president, who will turn 80 in June, and his wife, who turned 56 this month.
Steven Cheung, an assistant to the president and the White House communications director, accused Kimmel on the social platform X of "making a disgusting joke about assassinating the President" and of "doubling down on that joke instead of doing the decent thing by apologizing."
Against this backdrop, a source told Reuters that the Federal Communications Commission is prepared to order reviews of the broadcast licenses for the eight television stations owned by Disney's ABC group as soon as later today. Those reviews would be expedited relative to the usual schedule, raising regulatory pressure on the company.
Josh D'Amaro, who took over as Walt Disney Company CEO in March, now faces the task of deciding how the company will respond to mounting demands from the White House that ABC dismiss Kimmel. A Disney spokesman could not be reached for comment about the matter. Kimmel has previously weathered earlier efforts to have him fired.
ABC and its affiliated stations operate under broadcast licenses issued by the FCC. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Reuters last month he was considering moving up license reviews that are not currently scheduled until October 2028. Carr did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment, and the FCC did not immediately state whether it would review Kimmel's remarks.
Earlier, in September 2025, the head of the FCC pressured broadcasters to remove Kimmel from the air. That month ABC briefly suspended Kimmel's program over comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Controversy over the White House Correspondents' Dinner material is not new. In past years comedians at the event have sometimes taken the roast-style format to tones that provoked criticism from attendees. Hosts such as Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers have faced backlash for sharp remarks. This year's Correspondents' Dinner was scheduled to feature mentalist Oz Pearlman rather than a comedian. President Trump did not attend the 2017 dinner and instead held a rally that year. Michelle Wolf's 2018 routine, particularly jokes aimed at Sarah Huckabee Sanders, generated significant pushback; in 2019 the association moved away from the roast format and featured historian Ron Chernow.
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