Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday called on Brendan Carr to be ousted as chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after ABC suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel over comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Schumer labeled Carr as “one of the greatest threats to free speech America has ever seen” after Carr backed the suspension.
“What Brendan Carr is doing is despicable. What he did to Jimmy Kimmel, he is doing to person after person, network after network, intimidating them and threatening them,” Schumer said in a social media post.
“He is one of the greatest threats to free speech America has ever seen,” Schumer continued. “He should resign immediately. Trump should fire him.”
Disney and ABC yanked Kimmel’s show from the airwaves on Wednesday after he said on his Monday evening show that the country “hit some new lows over the weekend,” when the “MAGA gang desperately tried to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
Carr earlier on Wednesday threatened ABC and its local affiliates and indicated that the FCC could punish stations if they didn’t take steps regarding Kimmel following the comments.
“These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr told conservative commentator Benny Johnson on a podcast.
Nexstar Media Group announced Wednesday that its affiliate stations across the country would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live” due to the remarks. ABC followed suit with the suspension shortly after.
Nexstar owns The Hill and affiliate stations in dozens of markets across the U.S. It also owns NewsNation and the CW.
In its announcement, Nexstar said it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said in a statement.
