FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr threatened to take action against ABC after Jimmy Kimmel suggested in a monologue that Charlie Kirk’s assassin was “one of them,” meaning one of the “Maga Gangs.”
Carr, who appeared on Benny Johnson’s podcast on Wednesday, suggested that the FCC has “a remedy we can see.”
“We can do this in an easy or difficult way,” Kerr said. “These companies can honestly find ways to change their actions and take action at Kimmel.
Hours after Carr’s remarks, ABC announced, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” It said that the show will not air for a “foreseeable future” shortly after Nexstar, which operates 32 ABC affiliates.
Kimmel said in his monologue on Monday night at the ABC late-night show that “Maga Gang” was trying to score political points from Kirk’s murder. Kirk, a well-known conservative activist, was shot dead on September 10th during a discussion at Utah Valley University. Three days later, authorities announced they had arrested the suspected gunman.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend and the Magagangs are desperately trying to characterize this child who killed Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them,” Kimmel said.
The comment has been featured and criticised in conservative media, pointing to an official statement that suspect Tyler Robinson holds a “left ideology.” Greg Gutfeld said on Fox News’ “The Five” that Kimmel suffered from “delusions” and predicted that if he doesn’t deal with what he says, it will “end it.”
On Wednesday, Kerr was asked on Johnson’s podcast to take the FCC stance on Kimmel’s comments.
“It appears to be part of the most sickly behavior possible,” Kerr said. “In some quarters there’s a very coordinated effort to ensure that Americans lie about the most important, newsworthy nature of public interest acts we’ve seen in a long time.”
Carr suggested that Disney, ABC’s parent company, should deal with Kimmel’s actions before FCC gets involved. “You certainly could see the path to stop this,” Kerr said.
Carr suggested that the FCC could pursue allegations of news distortion against local licensees.
“Frankly, I think it’s been past time when a lot of these licensed broadcasters pushed Comcast and Disney back and said, ‘We’re going to take the lead – we won’t run Kimmel until we straighten this out,” he said. “It’s time for them to step up and say this trash – to the extent that it’s going down the pipe in the future – not to serve the needs of our community.”
The American Rights Center, a conservative group, filed an FCC complaint on Wednesday against the network’s West Coast flagship KABC-7. The complaint alleges that Kimmel’s comments were inconsistent with the official statement, and that Kimmel was unable to correct himself.
“This is a simple mistake, but not an innocent mistake,” the complaint states. “If not this year, there is a big mistake when it comes to this month’s most important news event. Such reckless indifference and intentional rebellion of facts are incompatible with the ABC’s obligation to public interest.”
The American Rights Center filed a complaint with CBS Station last year about a “60-minute” interview with Kamala Harris. Therefore, the agency asked its agency for public comment on whether it distorted Harris’ responses to questions about the war in Gaza. After seeking FCC approval for its merger with Paramount, Skydance Media has committed to installing an ombudsman to monitor CBS news content.
The FCC chair also proposed on Wednesday that its power could be followed the news of “hoos” by citing Hunter Biden’s laptop, Joe Biden’s mental vision and mainstream media reports on the Jussy Smollett incident.
Last week, Kimmel sought the end of “angry finger pointing” after Kirk’s death. “Can I agree that shooting another person just one day is a horrifying monster?” he wrote on Instagram.
The sole Democratic FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez, responded to Kerr’s remarks about X, suggesting he was exploiting Kirk’s death “as a justification for broader censorship and domination.”
“This administration is increasingly using the weight of government’s power to curb legitimate expression,” she wrote. “That’s not because speeches praise violence or break the law, but because they challenge those in power or reflect the opinions they disagree. We must silence our objections, punish satirists and government critics, and stand firmly in all attempts to erode individual freedom.”
The Foundation for Personal Rights and Expression said in a statement Wednesday that the FCC “has no authority to control what late-night television hosts can say.”
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In July, after Carr host Joy Beher said the president was “jealous of Obama,” Kerr was asked about Trump’s words war with ABC’s “views.” Appearing on Fox News, Carr was asked if the show was in the administration’s “crosshades.”
“There’s a complete possibility that there’s a problem over there,” Kerr said. “When President Trump exposes these media gatekeepers and destroys this facade, there are a lot of consequences. I don’t think the outcome is completely over.”
