Despite happy images of singing princesses and talking animals, the Walt Disney Co. has a well-deserved reputation as a bare-knuckled legal brawler. The company has long zealously defended its intellectual property and corporate interests. In President Donald Trump’s second term, that usually sharp instinct kicked in late. But it’s useful context to Disney-owned ABC’s lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, striking a belated blow on behalf of the First Amendment.
The legal action, filed Tuesday, pulls few punches in calling out Trump’s hand-picked FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, for distorting the FCC’s regulatory authority to punish speech and media organizations the president dislikes. The move came in response to the FCC’s vanishingly rare decision to demand an early review on renewing Disney-owned ABC’s broadcast licenses, predicated on the flimsiest of grounds.
Disney’s lawsuit contends the FCC has “waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: It disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”
The timing seems significant on multiple levels and could mark a watershed moment in broadcasters deciding that rolling over for Trump — or seeking to buy themselves a measure of peace with multimillion-dollar settlements or donations — merely emboldens him to push for more concessions. Disney paid $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit in December 2024, while CBS, NBC and other media companies also “bent the knee,” with CBS settling another lawsuit and NBC parent Comcast making a sizable donation to Trump’s ballroom project.
Disney’s aggressive posture comes only a few months into the tenure of new CEO Josh D’Amaro — who cut his teeth working in the company’s theme parks division and lacks roots in broadcasting. D’Amaro was not involved with ABC’s controversial decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel last fall, following his comments after Charlie Kirk’s murder.
The ferocious response from the late-night host’s supporters proved the MAGA crowd doesn’t have a monopoly on pressuring corporations. Angry consumers threatened to cancel Disney+ subscriptions (how many remains the subject of some debate). “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof said he wouldn’t work with the studio until Kimmel’s suspension was lifted, and several actors from the Disney-owned Marvel stable, including Mark Ruffalo and Pedro Pascal, spoke out on Kimmel’s behalf.
From that perspective, Disney’s latest move can be perceived as a prudent business decision,, challenging an administration whose social media bluster might outweigh its bite — especially when put to the test in the courts.
Disney’s lawsuit contends the FCC has “waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: It disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.” That includes not just Kimmel but the hosts on ABC’s “The View,” as well as reporting from ABC News.
Vague “public interest” criteria don’t eliminate the pesky matter of the First Amendment in terms of the government seeking to dictate and influence content.
For his part, Carr insisted that the early-renewal push was strictly tied to ABC’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Yet he has hardly been shy about criticizing broadcasters’ content and editorial choices, such as not airing Trump’s primetime address about “election integrity” last month. Trump himself called for a revocation of licenses for network stations that failed to carry the speech — even though networks regularly use their discretion about carrying such addresses live — reinforcing the sense Carr is simply doing the bidding of his thin-skinned boss.
Toward that end, documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act and provided to The Guardian revealed Carr’s coordination with the White House and regular interactions with conservative media power brokers.
Notably, there is nothing historically conservative about using the FCC to beat up on broadcasters, who have unique obligations because they operate over public airwaves. Ronald Reagan curtailed such restrictions in the 1980s, and even where they still exist, vague “public interest” criteria don’t eliminate the pesky matter of the First Amendment in terms of the government seeking to dictate and influence content.
“What Brendan Carr has done throughout his tenure is protect Donald Trump’s interests,” former Federal Trade Commission member Alvaro Bedoya (a Joe Biden appointee) told MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” adding, “We’re in a bad place, but we’re in a better place because ABC is filing this lawsuit.” The lawsuit received applause from the FCC’s lone Democrat, Anna M. Gomez, but it has also drawn praise from conservative quarters, including The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which recognized the government overreach at play.
That said, Disney’s stiffened spine does carry risks in an uncertain time for the media industry as the major players kick the tires on mergers and spinoffs. Running afoul of a vindictive administration could complicate such deal making and the necessary approvals. Media giant Paramount Skydance, which is pursuing an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, has cozied up to the president, with chairman and CEO David Ellison’s billionaire father, Larry Ellison, emerging as a major Trump supporter.
Whatever the Magic Kingdom’s “Happiest place on Earth” branding, though, it was past time for Hollywood’s premiere media empire to strike back. And while it takes a lot to make Disney look like a plucky underdog, the question now is whether other broadcasters find their own backbones and join in the rebellion.
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