FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday threatened action against late night television host Jimmy Kimmel, as well as Disney and ABC, after Kimmel said that Charlie Kirk’s assassin may have been part of the “MAGA gang.”
The host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” brought up the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Kirk and claimed that right-leaning critics hit “new lows” after they had claimed that the 22 year old suspect, Tyler Robinson, was someone who was not “MAGA.”
“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 remarked.
He then proceeded to mock President Donald Trump’s responses to Kirk’s murder, which included ordering American flags flown at half-staff.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?” Kimmel said.
Kimmel’s stance did not sit well with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
He said that Kimmel’s statements are “truly sick” and said that his statements should result in immediate suspension and may lead to ABC losing its broadcasting license.
Carr said that the FCC has a “strong case” to hold ABC, Disney, and Kimmel accountable.
“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr told Benny Johnson.
“There are calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this,” he remarked.
Carr continued, “The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter.”
“Disney needs to see some change here. But the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it’s time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that’s what comes down the pipe in the future isn’t something that we think serves the needs of our local communities,” Carr stated. “But this sort of status quo is obviously not, not acceptable where we are.”
