Commissioner Tells Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro FCC is On Censorship Campaign

The back-and-forth between ABC and the FCC, now with the highly unusual move of a commissioner writing a letter to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, telling him the agency is on a campaign to censor the network.

What's Happening:

• In the latest chapter in the ongoing saga between Disney/ABC and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez has sent a letter to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro.
• In the letter, as The Wall Street Journal reports, Gomez tells the new CEO that ABC has been a victim of "a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control" by the Trump administration.
• She continues, noting that the FCC under Republican chairman Brendan Carr has been weaponized to pressure "a free and independent press and all media into submission."
• Gomez is the lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC and has reportedly been an outspoken critic of Carr's actions, which she alleges are aimed at pressuring broadcasters for political purposes.
• The letter comes after ABC made a filing with the FCC, saying that their free speech rights had been infringed upon.
• Gomez told D'Amaro in the letter that the investigations and incidents that ABC has been subjected to are "not a series of coincidental regulatory actions."
• She also made comments about a $16 million settlement after a defamation lawsuit against the network and Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopolous, saying “That settlement did not buy you peace... you cannot buy this Administration’s favor. For the right price, you can only borrow it. And the price always goes up.”
• As for the back and forth between the administration and late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who was suspended for several days last year - Gomez wrote, “The goal was clear: use regulatory pressure to force his removal from the air and send a message to every other broadcaster about the cost of critical coverage."
• Gomez adds in the letter that she will use "every tool available to me as a Commissioner to shine a light on what this FCC is doing to curtail press freedom and to hold this process to account at every step." She goes on the say that the investigations are unlikely to succeed, but that is not the point, adding "The threat is the point. As sitting Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch recently reminded us by invoking Justice Thurgood Marshall: ‘The value of a sword of Damocles is that it hangs, not that it drops.’”

ABC and the FCC:

• ABC has seemingly been an ire for the FCC since Carr assumed the chairmanship in 2025. Early into his term, he initiated an inquiry into D.E.I. practices at ABC stations, which is currently still in progress.
• Last September, a joke made on Jimmy Kimmel Live after the assassination of Charlie Kirk prompted outrage and calls for his show to be cancelled. ABC responded by suspending his show, which only lasted for a few days after a wave of protests regarding the free speech implications of taking him off the air erupted.
• As the FCC began looking into The View, they also recently took what is considered to be an unusual step, and started reviewing all eight of the ABC-owned local station licenses around the country - years before they expire. This review is coincidentally timed around another headline making joke from Jimmy Kimmel Live that both First Lady Melania Trump and President Trump reacted to on social media.
• Regarding the equal time rule, the filing also adds a declaration from The View executive producer Brian Teta, who notes that a number of Republicans have been invited to the show, but declined, naming JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Elon Musk, Kevin McCarthy, and Marco Rubio.
• Just last week, Disney and ABC accused the FCC of infringing on their free speech rights in a 52-page filing with the commission.