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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr will appear before the Senate Commerce committee on Wednesday to discuss his push for broadcasters to take ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
Carr will appear alongside the FCC’s two other commissioners, Olivia Trusty and Anna M. Gomez. In September, Carr issued a veiled threat against ABC and Disney, suggesting he would take action over controversial comments made by the late-night host about the alleged Charlie Kirk assassin.
Committee chair Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who scheduled the hearing last month, criticized Carr’s comments at the time, suggesting he sounded like an organized crime boss.
FCC CHAIR LEVELS THREAT AGAINST ABC, DISNEY AFTER KIMMEL SUGGESTED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN WAS ‘MAGA’
On the heels of Kirk’s assassination, Kimmel accused conservatives of reaching “new lows” in trying to pin a left-wing ideology on 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson, even though prosecutors reaffirmed those ties in an indictment.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
Appearing the next day on “The Benny Show,” Carr called Kimmel’s comments “some of the sickest conduct” and suggested there were potential “avenues” the FCC could pursue.
“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said at the time. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
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On Cruz’s podcast, he called Carr’s comment “dangerous as hell.”
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Cruz said on his podcast.
Kimmel’s suspension over his remarks suggesting Kirk’s alleged killer was a MAGA supporter was brief; he returned to the air the following week and is now signed with Disney through 2027.
KIMMEL BLASTS FCC’S BRENDAN CARR IN RETURN TO ABC LATE-NIGHT SHOW
Kimmel criticized Carr in his first episode following the brief benching, calling the FCC boss an embarrassment.
Carr has developed a reputation as working in line with the Trump administration on its aggressive stance toward media companies, launching investigations into ABC News, CBS News and NBC News, as well as NPR, PBS and some local stations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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