Thread by @notcapnamerica

If you’re confused about what’s happening with Jimmy Kimmel, here’s the deal:

Most people don’t realize this, but in the U.S. there are ownership caps on how many local TV stations one company can control. It’s meant to stop one giant corporation from monopolizing the airwaves.

Nexstar Media Group is already the biggest TV station owner in America. They don’t run a national network like ABC or NBC — they scoop up local affiliates across the country. By law, no company is supposed to control more than ~39% of U.S. households.

ABC’s parent company (Disney) has a deal with Nexstar that would give them control over more stations than the law allows. To make that happen, they need the FCC to sign off and grant an exception.

On the merits, the FCC could approve or deny the deal based on competition, market concentration, or the “public interest.” That’s normal regulatory business.

But here’s where it gets dangerous: the head of the FCC publicly blasted Jimmy Kimmel for jokes about Charlie Kirk. And according to reporting, he also privately threatened Disney/ABC over this pending Nexstar deal if they didn’t rein in Kimmel.

In other words: the FCC isn’t just weighing the deal on the law. The Chair is signaling the agency could punish Disney/ABC for Jimmy Kimmel’s political jokes.

That’s not just bad optics. That’s unconstitutional. The Supreme Court just said so last year in NRA v. Vullo: the government “cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.”

This kind of abuse is rare in U.S. history.

Nixon tried to use the FCC to punish the Washington Post over Watergate.

And guess when the last time it happened was? Trump‘s last presidency.

His DOJ tried to block the AT&T/Time Warner merger in retaliation against CNN

So yes, this is unusual. And when it’s happened before, courts treated it as serious abuse of power. The government can’t use regulatory power as a weapon against critics — even if it hates what’s being said.

This isn’t about whether you like Jimmy Kimmel or agree with his jokes. It’s about whether the government gets to police speech by holding corporate deals hostage. That’s a First Amendment red line.

And if this feels like something you’d expect in Russia, Hungary, or Turkey — where leaders routinely lean on broadcasters and licensing power to muzzle critics — that’s the point. It’s not supposed to happen here.

And if you’re cheering this on because you don’t like Jimmy Kimmel — think twice. If the FCC can kill a billion-dollar deal to punish him, it can do the same to punish you. Today it’s jokes about Republicans. Tomorrow it could be a preacher, a MAGA podcast, or a gun rights group. Once that line is crossed, nobody’s safe.