Rosie O'Donnell scored good ratings and warm reviews during a one-week stint guest-hosting ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" last month. But ABC felt less enthusiastic about one of the skits she had prepared about President Trump.

ABC executives made her delay a monologue skit mocking Mr. Trump, she said on a recent podcast, because it was preparing to sue his administration. ABC has been ensnared for months in an escalating conflict with the Federal Communications Commission, which initiated an unexpected early review of ABC's coveted local broadcast licenses.

In the middle of Ms. O'Donnell's week on air, ABC's parent company, Disney, took the rare step of suing the agency, accusing it of violating the First Amendment with that review. The former talk-show host said on "The Jann Arden Podcast" that she had planned to close her opening-night monologue by singing "Donnie Boy," an anti-Trump spoof of the Irish ballad "Danny Boy." But shortly before taping on Aug. 17, she said, "the network called and said, 'We don't want you to do it.' Now I had five minutes to prepare a different ending to the monologue." Ms. O'Donnell said she discovered why the next morning. On Aug. 18, Disney filed its suit.

ABC declined to comment. Ms. O'Donnell performed the skit on the show later in the week. She said on the podcast that a segment involving victims of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein also got nixed. But the discussion about the segment happened with Mr. Kimmel, not ABC, and he suggested that she not do it, said Cindi Berger, a representative for Ms. O'Donnell.