Trump-appointed FCC chair Brendan Kerr agreed to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee and agreed to testify on the events that led to the midnight host Jimmy Kimmel.
In comments about Kimmel’s pre-benching conservative podcast, Carr threatened to investigate allegations of “news distortion” against ABC affiliates, unless Kimmel was taken into the air.
A spokesman for the Senate Commerce Committee said there is no date for Kerr’s appearance yet. According to a Semafor report that first reported the news, the committee expects a hearing to take place in November, but expects the date could move later. Two other FCC commissioners, Republican Olivia Trust and Democratic appointee Anna Gomez, are also expected to appear at the hearing.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) chairs the Senate Commerce Committee. Two weeks ago, Cruz criticized Carr’s comments about Kimmel, comparing the FCC chairman to the “Maphios” and setting a bad precedent to ensure conservatives’ freedom of speech.
The controversy began on a September 15 episode of his ABC Show when Kimmel said “Magagang” was trying to “characterize” Charlie Kirk’s murderer as “something other than one of them” and “characterize” what he could do to score political points from there. On September 17th, Disney-owned ABC stopped “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He called it “some of the most sickest acts possible” after Kerr threatened to take action against his local affiliate over his remarks.
On a podcast by conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Kerr said: “We can do this in an easy or difficult way. These companies can frankly find ways to change their behavior and take action in Kimmel. Shortly afterwards, two large ABC station groups, Sinclair and Nexstar, said they were ahead of the Kimmel show (and Sinclair especially thanked Carr for his remarks). Carr celebrated the news about ABC’s Kimmel suspension and made a “roof-growing” gesture to CNN reporters with Michael Scott and Dwight Schleot’s GIFs.
Last week, Kerr downplayed his role in Kimmel’s suspension, saying he never threatened to revoke the station’s license, and that Nexstar and Sinclair chose to preempt the show of their agreement. “We can do this in an easy or difficult way,” said Carr, who said his comment was a hypothetical point as to what the FCC would do if there were complaints of “news distortion” raised against Kimmel and the ABC, and Democrats were engaged in “distortion and prediction” on his comments.
“It was the FCC that made me very clear in the context of Kimmel’s episodes, and I, in particular, myself, had not expressed my views on the ultimate merits (of the ‘news distortion’ complaints about Kimmel).
In his podcast “The Verdict with Ted Cruz,” Cruz said he “dislikes what Kimmel said” and “I’m excited that he’s been fired.” (Kimmel “has not been fired.”) However, Cruz spoke about the threat to Cal’s broadcasting station. “That’s going to be bad for conservatives. If Democrats win again, the time will come when they win the White House.
After ABC announced the suspension of Kimmel, Gomez, the FCC’s lonely Democratic chief, suggested that Carr exploited Kirk’s assassination “as a justification for broader censorship and control.” “This administration is increasingly using the weight of government authority to suppress legal representation,” she wrote in X’s post. When Disney revived Kimmel, Gomez said, “I’m glad to see Disney find that courage in the face of clear government threats.”
Meanwhile, last week, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and eight other senators sent Kerr a letter raising a series of questions about Kimmel’s episode. They wrote that Kerr’s statements, President Trump’s lawsuit against media organizations, and “representing the most blatant and coordinated attacks in American history.”
“The FCC regulators on broadcast licensing were never intended to serve as a weapon to silence criticism or punish satirical commentary,” wrote Schiff and other senators. “Your agency’s mission is not to act as an enforcement unit for political retaliation from the media that displeases those in power, but to serve the public interest.” The letter asked Carr to disclose communications between the FCC and ABC, Disney or its affiliates regarding the Kimmel Show, as well as communications with the White House.
Another group of senators led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to CEOs of Nexstar and Sinclair, asking them to explain their decision, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Sinclair and Nexstar announced on September 26th that they had finished the opening goal of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” And soon the show will begin airing on ABC affiliates. The companies argued that their decisions do not depend on government influence or communication. Sinclair and Nexstar claimed that it was justified by their first decision to preempt Kimmel’s show.
Related: “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Flap exposed growing competition between the network and its affiliates
