Disney’s New CEO Faces Crucial Challenge with Trump Controversy
A week ago, Disney’s new CEO Josh D’Amaro was busy sharing his vision for making Disney Plus the company’s “digital centerpiece.” However, by last Friday, his focus had seemingly shifted to a clash with the Trump administration over free speech issues.
Disney-owned ABC has accused the administration of infringing on its First Amendment rights due to an ongoing investigation into The View. D’Amaro, who previously led Disney’s parks division, may have hoped to be remembered for corporate synergy and an enhanced Disney Plus, but this confrontation with Trump and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is likely to be a defining moment of his leadership.
In a recent filing to the FCC, ABC argued that the agency is threatening free speech with its investigation into whether The View breached the “equal time” rule, which mandates that broadcasters provide equal access and time to competing political candidates. Ahead of the midterm elections, The View featured segments with Texas Democratic candidates James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett, and the FCC has raised concerns about the absence of Republican politicians on the show.
ABC pointed out that The View was granted an exemption from the equal time rule “more than twenty years ago” because it qualifies as a “bona fide news interview program.” The company contended that the FCC’s actions against The View could “chill core First Amendment-protected speech for years and potentially decades to come.”
“The danger is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed,” ABC stated. “While the Commission questions The View’s long-standing exemption, it has not shown any intention to apply a similar interpretation of the equal opportunities rule to other broadcasters, including the many voices—conservative and liberal—on broadcast radio.”
This kind of pressure from the FCC and its Trump-appointed Chairman Brendan Carr began long before D’Amaro took over from Bob Iger. Using the FCC’s news distortion rule, Carr threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of any station airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the show featured a joke about Republican reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death. These threats led ABC to temporarily pull the show before it resumed airing.
It was evident that Disney/ABC were attempting to appease the Trump administration, but that hasn’t stopped the president from calling for Kimmel’s firing again, creating further complications for Disney. The FCC recently mandated that Disney-owned ABC stations in eight markets renew their broadcast licenses by May 28th, even though those renewals weren’t due until 2028. While the FCC is currently focused on The View, it indicated back in January that it plans to revoke equal time exemptions for other daytime and late-night talk shows as well.
In contrast, Paramount has benefited from its compliance with the Trump administration over the past year, successfully negotiating an $8 billion acquisition deal with David Ellison’s Skydance. It was clear that Paramount was trying to win favor with the administration when it announced last summer the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, claiming it was a cost-saving measure. This rationale was hard to believe given the president’s history of conflicts with Colbert and the need for FCC approval for Paramount and Skydance’s merger.
History shows that no amount of appeasement from Disney will prevent Trump from targeting the company, as he views it as a political adversary. This reality may not have been obvious to D’Amaro’s predecessors, like Iger—who agreed to pay Trump $15 million to settle a defamation suit in 2024—or Bob Chapek, who hesitated to condemn Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill despite employee protests. However, D’Amaro can no longer ignore this dynamic, as Trump and his allies are making their intentions clear.
In a recent letter to D’Amaro, the FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna M. Gomez, stated that by settling with Trump in 2024, Disney “told this Administration that pressure works.” She highlighted the Trump administration’s pattern of hostile behavior and emphasized that “the First Amendment does not belong to this Administration to grant or withhold.”
“It belongs to the public, to the press, and to every broadcaster willing to defend it,” Gomez wrote. “Your journalists do work that matters to millions of Americans across the country, and the viewers who rose up to defend Jimmy Kimmel are the same viewers who will stand up again if this FCC follows through with its threat.”
Gomez’s points resonate strongly. The Trump administration is attempting to intimidate ABC and Disney into submission under the guise of promoting a fair media landscape. It’s clear that the president is acting in his own self-interest, which only strengthens the case for Disney to push back.
ABC’s claim that the FCC is stifling free speech marks a significant shift for Disney, a company that has spent years on the defensive against conservative criticism for its “woke” initiatives. D’Amaro has recognized that self-censorship and attempts to placate the Trump administration will not deter the president from targeting Disney. Instead of following in the footsteps of his predecessors, D’Amaro seems to understand that the path forward involves standing up to Trump, even if it leads to legal battles.
This situation could escalate into a protracted and costly legal struggle that no CEO would want to face, especially in their first year. However, if D’Amaro wants to be seen as a leader who genuinely supports his company and its employees, he must prepare to fight, no matter how long it takes.
