(RNS) — A group of evangelical broadcasters has asked the Federal Communications Commission to open an investigation into ABC over a Jimmy Kimmel comedy routine about first lady Melania Trump. On Tuesday (April 28), the federal agency, whose chairman was appointed by President Donald Trump, announced it would challenge the TV station’s broadcast license, according to reports by CNN and Semafor.
The FCC decision came as criticism of Kimmel’s recent sketch on his “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late night show about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner piled up from his critics, including the president.
Last week, Kimmel joked about the first lady having “a glow like an expectant widow,” during a sketch about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that aired two days before the actual reception held in Washington, D.C. The sketch prompted backlash after a shooter allegedly targeting the president and other administration officials opened fire at the event on Saturday. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, who reportedly thanked his church in his manifesto, has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
RELATED: The Christian DNA of suspected White House Correspondents’ dinner shooter
The first lady said Kimmel’s words are “corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” in a Monday post on X. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” she wrote in the post, before calling for ABC to “take a stand.”
The president also took to social media on Monday to condemn Kimmel’s skit and called on Disney, ABC’s parent company, to fire him. “I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said, but this is something far beyond the pale,” he wrote in a post on Truth Soc …