The actions of the US Communications Authority are telling.
The dispute between the Trumps and Kimmel started with a joke on the late night show. Zak Hussein / SplashNews.com
The US communications authority, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has ordered the license of the ABC television channel to be subject to an early inspection, reports include BBC and Reuters.
The decision was made after the US president Donald Trump and the first lady Melania Trump criticized the channel and demanded a comedian Jimmy Kimmel separation.
According to a Reuters source, the issues are not directly connected, but the FCC’s actions have drawn criticism.
The audit concerns The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, and its television subsidiaries. In an order issued Tuesday, the FCC said it was investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations such as unlawful discrimination.
The FCC, an independent federal agency, grants eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations and has not revoked the license of a single television station in more than 40 years.
The dispute between the Trumps and Kimmel began with a joke on the late-night show, in which he referred to the first lady by saying she looked like a “widow-in-waiting.” According to Trump, the comment was inappropriate and could be interpreted as inciting violence, especially at a time when the investigation into the alleged assassination attempt against the president was ongoing.
Kimmel denied the accusations on his show on Monday, saying the joke was a lighthearted reference to the couple’s age difference. According to him, the comment did not contain anything referring to violence.
Trump turns 80 in June and is the oldest president to take office in the United States. His wife is 56 years old.
The White House continued the criticism on Tuesday, when the communications director Steven Cheung criticized Kimmel on social media after he refused to apologize.