# How Disney learned to fight back

> A year after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel off air, Disney is using that same episode as evidence against the FCC in court.
- Title: How Disney learned to fight back · Newsweek | Shortify
- Summary: A year after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel off air, Disney is using that same episode as evidence against the FCC in court. Disney stopped folding and started…
- Keywords: media, first amendment, fcc, jimmy kimmel, press freedom, Disney, learned, fight, back, Newsweek
- Source: Newsweek — https://newsweek.com/how-jimmy-kimmel-and-disney-learned-to-fight-trump-12432819
- Published: 2026-09-11T17:24:43+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: media, first amendment, fcc, jimmy kimmel, press freedom
## A fight back in court
The clash between comedians, broadcasters and federal regulators has returned to the courtroom, and it lands squarely on First Amendment ground.
## The goldfish joke
Kimmel said the "MAGA gang" was scoring political points off Charlie Kirk's death, and compared Trump's reaction to how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.

> how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish
## The easy way or the hard way
FCC chair Brendan Carr called the remarks "some of the sickest conduct possible," floated suspension, and told Disney it could go one of two ways.

> we can do this the easy way or the hard way
## Six days off the air
ABC suspended the show after affiliates said they would pre-empt it. The blackout lasted less than a week, and Disney+ cancellations reportedly surged.
## Not a first-term rerun
First Amendment lawyer Bob Corn-Revere says this echoes Trump's earlier threats to pull network licenses, but with a chair now "fully committed to doing the president's bidding."

> fully committed to doing the president's bidding
## The interview that moved
Kimmel told viewers his sit-down with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico would run on YouTube, not television, citing FCC pressure over guest bookings.

> threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network
## Equal time, new teeth
In January the FCC ended the exemption that kept TV talk shows outside equal-time rules for political candidates. That rule change is what made a booking a legal risk.
## The lone dissent
Anna Gomez, the FCC's only Democratic commissioner, called it intimidation and said the agency has no lawful power to threaten licenses over who a host books.

> no lawful authority to threaten broadcast licenses over guest bookings
## License review as payback
Carr opened early license reviews for eight ABC stations, years ahead of schedule, citing discrimination concerns. Disney read it as retaliation and sued.

> Government censorship is deeply un-American
## The hard way
Each new threat hands ABC more evidence of a sustained campaign. Kimmel marked his 4,000th show with a line aimed straight at Carr.

> But we did it the hard way, Brendan, and we are still here.
## Key takeaway

Disney stopped folding and started filing. The FCC's own pressure campaign became the documentary record ABC needed to sue over it.