Brendan Carr to testify before Senate committee after drawing criticism for Jimmy Kimmel comments
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is set to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee following bipartisan criticism over his involvement in pressuring ABC and its affiliates to suspend comedian Jimmy KimmelS show. The controversy arose after Kimmel made comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination and former President Donald Trump’s response, leading Carr-during a right-wing podcast appearance-to urge broadcasters to take action against the show. Shortly after, ABC suspended kimmel’s show but reinstated it a week later, when it achieved a 10-year high in adult viewership.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz sharply criticized Carr’s actions, warning against government overreach in deciding acceptable speech and threatening media outlets. Free speech advocates and Democrats also condemned the government’s role and ABC’s compliance, with former President Barack Obama highlighting the dangers of regulatory pressure used to silence media voices. Carr, when questioned about regret, stood by his statements, while Cruz likened Carr’s approach to mafia-style intimidation.
the situation has intensified debates around free speech, government influence on media, and the phenomenon of cancel culture in political discourse.
Brendan Carr to testify before Senate committee after drawing criticism for Jimmy Kimmel comments
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee, a committee spokesperson confirmed.
Carr has drawn bipartisan criticism over his role in the Trump administration’s pressure on ABC and its affiliates to cancel comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show. An exact date for the hearing has yet to be released. Semafor reported the hearing.
The committee is chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was one of the most outspoken Republicans against Carr’s actions.
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for the 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 last month on his podcast.
Last month, ABC said it was suspending Kimmel’s show, a move that came just hours after Carr had appeared on a right-wing podcast and pressured the network and its affiliates to cease airing the show over comments Kimmel made on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and President Donald Trump’s response to it.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said, adding that he wanted broadcasters to “take action” on Kimmel.
ABC brought back Kimmel’s show a week later, and it hit a 10-year high rating among adult viewers.
Several free speech groups and elected Democrats also criticized the government’s involvement and the network’s compliance.
“After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” former president Barack Obama said in a statement.
“We cannot be a country where late night talk show hosts serve at the pleasure of the president,” free speech advocacy group the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said. “But until institutions grow a backbone and learn to resist government pressure, that is the country we are.”
KIMMEL’S ABC CANCELLATION FUELS DEBATE OVER ‘HYPOCRISY OF CANCEL CULTURE’
When asked in a press conference last week if he regretted his comments, Carr said he was clear in “the full words that I said, the full context of the interview.”
Cruz, in his criticism, said, “He says, ‘We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.’ That’s right out of Goodfellas. That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar, going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”
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