It’s one thing to share one’s views as a sitting Commissioner on the FCC in a statement, or in the modern era in a post to social media platform X. Fiery Democrat Anna M. Gómez has taken it one step further, taking a turn that is rare and could lead the Carr Commission to respond.
Gómez, in a letter to the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, has all but told the company under FCC scrutiny and is presently under an early license renewal action linked to supposed DEI-focused “invidious” discrimination to fight “censorship” as she exposed a “double standard” in Commission “targeting.”
Gómez’s letter was sent on Monday (5/11) to Josh D’Amaro, and it documents “the record of this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control against Disney,” calling out the FCC’s “selective enforcement” against the company that is parent to ABC Owned Stations, comprised of broadcast properties in Raleigh-Durham; Fresno; Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Philadelphia; and New York.
The biggest takeaway? Gómez is encouraging Disney to continue fighting her own agency, led by Republican Brendan Carr, who has emerged as a key confidant of President Trump and is a regular visitor to the Mar-a-Lago complex in Palm Beach, Fla., where the Commander-in-Chief resides when not at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
In the letter, Gómez writes, “What Disney and ABC are facing is not a series of coincidental regulatory actions but a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control, carried out through the weaponization of the FCC’s authority as a federal regulator and aimed at pressuring a free and independent press and all media into submission.”
Gómez traces the censorship campaign from its origins in the settlement of a defamation lawsuit brought against ABC, through a series of investigations into ABC’s debate moderation; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs; and The View, which ABC Television Stations has asked the FCC to confirm is a bona fide news show.
These actions culminated in the rare early license renewal order handed to Disney’s eight ABC Owned stations. Gómez calls this “the most egregious First Amendment assault this FCC has taken to date.”
The letter, which Gómez posted to her X profile, posits that while the FCC has taken aim at ABC, “other broadcasters operating under the exact same rules, in the same markets, aired interviews with political candidates without filing required notices and received no inquiry, no letter, and no investigation whatsoever.”
Chairman Carr has stated that the early license renewals for ABC Owned Stations are tied to possible discrimination linked to DEI practices and not tied to other possible or potential matters.
What Disney is facing is not a series of coincidental regulatory actions but a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control.
As I told their new CEO, the fight ahead may not be easy, but the law, the facts, and the public are on their side. pic.twitter.com/yR7x94QHBx
— Anna M. Gomez (@AGomezFCC) May 11, 2026
The letter also raises serious questions about the FCC’s conduct in its investigation into The View.
Based on Disney’s own filing, Gómez describes in the letter what her office says “appears to be a form of entrapment” where the Commission selectively used the threat of enforcement actions to pressure ABC affiliates into filing paperwork on a candidate appearance and then used the existence of those filings as evidence against Disney’s ABC station. “If true, that is a government agency abusing its authority to punish speech it dislikes while protecting speech it favors,” Gomez wrote to Disney head D’Amaro.
Gómez also used the letter to raise concerns about how the FCC is investigating Disney’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, noting that the agency’s own rules on this topic are limited to recruitment outreach and do not cover internal corporate policies.
Despite that overreach, Gómez’s office states, Disney produced over 11,000 pages of documents in response to the inquiry. “The FCC’s attempt to usurp control over internal corporate decision-making through its limited authority requires reaching for legal power that the statute, agency rules, and the applicable case law simply do not provide,” Gomez wrote. “I am encouraged to see that Disney is choosing courage over capitulation. The fight ahead may not be easy, but the law, the facts, and the public are on your side. This is a fight worth having, and one that I am confident you will win.”
