Vice President J.D. Vance argued that the government's threats to take action against ABC and its affiliates over Jimmy Kimmel amounted to "the FCC commissioner making a joke."
During an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, a reporter suggested that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr had put "pressure" on Disney to take Kimmel off the air following his remarks about the murder of Charlie Kirk.
"I'm wondering if you can square your fervent belief in free speech with what's going on now with Jimmy Kimmel and the FCC pressure," the reporter asked Vance.
"I'm pretty sure that Jimmy Kimmel was back on the air last night," the vice president replied. "And to the extent that he's not back on the air, it's because he's not funny and has terrible ratings."
"This is not a federal government problem," he continued. "What people will say is, well, you know, didn't the FCC commissioner put a tweet out that said something bad? Well, compare that, the FCC commissioner making a joke on social media. What is the government action that the Trump administration has engaged in to kick Jimmy Kimmel or anybody else off the air? Zero."
"What government pressure have we brought to bear to tell people that they're not allowed to speak their mind? Zero."
Vance insisted that President Donald Trump's administration was "fighting every single day to protect" free speech.
"Now, compare that to the Biden administration, where we found out just yesterday that conservatives on YouTube and on a number of social media platforms were being censored," he added. "Why? Because the Biden administration picked up the phone and said, we want you to censor our political opponents."
"That is real government censorship, and it left the White House when Joe Biden left the White House."
The FCC commissioner's remarks, however, went beyond a "joke" on social media.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Carr told one MAGA influencer. "These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
He later complained to Fox News that late-night hosts were "enforcing a very narrow political ideology"
"But if you are going to have a license from the FCC, we expect you to broadly serve the public interest," Carr insisted.
Following Kimmel's return to television on Tuesday, Trump continued to pressure ABC and Disney.
"I think we're going to test ABC out on this. Let's see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million. This one sounds even more lucrative," the president said.