A Trump admin official who pushed to get a late-night host taken off the air is now being criticized for his response to the news.
The banning of Jimmy Kimmel was set in motion by Donald Trump’s handpicked FCC Chair Brendan Carr who previously threatened ABC/Disney on a podcast by stating, “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."
After the station did cancel Kimmel, Carr wrote on X, "Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to operate in the public interest—that includes serving the needs of their local communities."
"And broadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the public interest, including their local communities’ values," Carr added. "I am glad to see that many broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended."
This led to outrage online, including from Democratic House aide Aaron Fritschner, who wrote Thursday, "Carr is now acting like he didn’t directly threaten to pull their license if they did not comply with the demands of the Trump Administration, a thing he did in full public view.""
Fritschner also said, "'The right not to air' my man there is video of you, a government official with control over TV licenses, telling them 'we can do this the easy way or the hard way.' Defend your government imposed censorship if you can but don’t lie to us that you didn’t do it."
Former prosecutor Ron Filipkowski chimed in, "They are responding to government threats and intimidation, not their viewers. You are a shameless liar."
Free speech advocate Aaron Terr replied on Thursday, "That doesn’t justify the FCC threatening to sanction ABC because of its late night host’s political commentary. Take it from you."
Self-described political junkie Richard Angwin said in response, "Hypocrite Brendan Carr: you decried FCC censorship in 2019, but now celebrate yanking Kimmel's mic for skewering Charlie Kirk's lies, Jimmy's the brave truth-teller America needs, not your selective 'public interest' sham."
