Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr gloated over ABC’s Wednesday decision to indefinitely suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over comments about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, claiming to Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the decision represented how President Donald Trump “exposed” the network’s bias to local communities.
ABC on Wednesday announced it had suspended the late-night show “indefinitely” after its eponymous host made comments on Monday that said “the MAGA gang” had spent the weekend trying to prove Kirk’s alleged gunman, Tyler Robinson, wasn’t also a Republican.
After authorities unveiled text messages they say showed Robinson appeared to have left-leaning politics — and also that he may have had a personal motivation — conservative media pounced on Kimmel’s comments, and local station owners Nexstar and Sinclair said they would pull episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from their stations over what they respectively described as “insensitive remarks.” Sinclair also called for larger reforms at the show.
Carr said on “Hannity” thanked Trump for his attacks on the media, saying he hoped ABC’s decision would put the companies on notice—and in line.
“President Trump ran directly at these legacy broadcast outlets, and he exposed them to these market forces, and a lot of these affiliate groups said, ‘We’re tired of carrying this stuff,’” Carr said. “Late-night shows, something’s called seriously awry there. They went from going for applause — from clap lines to applause lines — they went from being court jesters that would make fun of everybody in power to being court clerics and enforcing a very narrow political ideology.”
Carr said the station owners’ decision was “unprecedented,” “a turning point” and showcased how they were “standing up to serve the interests of their community and don’t just have this progressive ‘blah blah’ coming out from New York and Hollywood.”
“We at the FCC are going to force the public interest obligations,” he said.
Carr previously threatened ABC and Disney on Wednesday with an investigation over the issue, claiming the network may have illegally distorted the news. It fell in line with Carr’s various investigations into media organizations that have run afoul of Trump’s interests, including those into CBS News over its “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris and NBC over its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
