Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas sharply criticized the head of the Federal Communications Commission for urging ABC to crack down on the now-benched late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, calling the Trump appointee’s comments “dangerous as hell” and comparing his move to a mafia shakedown.
ABC, owned by Disney, took “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air indefinitely on Wednesday, two days after Kimmel faced criticism for his comments on conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Just hours before the company’s decision, FCC Chair Brendan Carr had publicly urged ABC to “take action” in response to Kimmel’s remarks, saying in an interview: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
On his podcast Friday, Cruz called Carr a “good guy” but skewered him for his outspoken intervention.
“I gotta say, 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,'” the Texas senator said, mimicking a mob boss’s accent.
Kimmel had drawn conservatives’ ire for saying during his monologue on Monday’s show: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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 also mocked President Trump’s reaction to the shooting.
Cruz had little sympathy for Kimmel, whom he called “profoundly unfunny” and “bitter and nasty.” The senator also called the comedian’s disappearance from the airwaves a “fantastic thing” and argued his show was preempted because he “flat-out lied” about Kirk’s killing.
But the senator warned that the FCC chair’s approach could set a risky precedent.
“If the government gets in the business of saying, … ‘we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz said.
“Let me tell you what will happen: Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House,” he added. “They will silence us, they will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”
Asked about Cruz’s comments Friday, Mr. Trump called Carr a “courageous person” and said he disagrees with the senator.
CBS News has reached out to the FCC for comment.
Carr called for action on Kimmel in an interview Wednesday with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson. The FCC commissioner — a staunch Trump ally — called Kimmel’s remarks “some of the sickest conduct possible,” and suggested it would be appropriate for ABC to suspend Kimmel. He also said the independent companies that own ABC’s local affiliates ought to “push back” against the network and possibly take Kimmel’s show off the air, pointing to FCC rules requiring broadcast TV stations to act in the public interest.
Shortly after Carr’s comments on Wednesday, media giants Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group — which each own dozens of ABC affiliate stations — announced they would preempt Kimmel’s show, condemning Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk’s assassination.
Nexstar has a deal pending to purchase rival station owner Tegna, which will require FCC approval. A Nexstar spokesperson told CBS News: “The decision to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision.”
Later Wednesday, an ABC spokesperson said the show will be “pre-empted indefinitely,” taking Kimmel off the airwaves nationwide.
The move drew outrage, with the FCC’s lone Democratic appointee, Commissioner Anna Gomez, accusing ABC of engaging in a “shameful show of cowardly corporate capitulation” that “has put the foundation of the First Amendment in danger.”
“This FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police
content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes,” she said in a statement.
ABC’s decision added to a weeklong debate over free speech in the wake of Kirk’s death, as conservatives and Trump administration figures have called for consequences against anybody who mocks, celebrates or makes light of the assassination.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has celebrated Kimmel’s indefinite departure from the airwaves — and suggested Thursday that TV networks should “maybe” lose their licenses over negative coverage.
“They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday, arguing coverage of him is overwhelmingly negative. “See, I think that’s really illegal, personally.”
