WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr on Friday for threats he made this week related to Jimmy Kimmel’s show, calling the Trump administration official’s actions “dangerous as hell.”
“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Cruz said on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”
“I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy, he’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him, but what he said there is dangerous as hell,” Cruz said.
Cruz is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC. He warned Carr’s actions could have long-term consequences.
“It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, yeah, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it,” Cruz said.
President Donald Trump sided with Carr while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Friday when asked about Cruz’s remarks.
“I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot, so I disagree with Ted Cruz,” Trump said.
In an interview Wednesday with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Carr warned that the FCC could take action against ABC and its parent company Disney over remarks Kimmel made on his late night show Monday about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The comedian said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that “The MAGA gang [is] desperately 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.”
Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged this week with Kirk’s murder in Utah. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said last weekend that Robinson grew up in a conservative household and later became influenced by “leftist ideology.” Robinson’s mother told authorities that “over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left,” according to charging documents.
Carr described Kimmel’s remarks as “the sickest conduct possible.”
“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 change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr told Johnson, later suggesting that ABC affiliates could face fines or see those licenses revoked if they continued airing the show.
ABC announced it was pulling the show off the air indefinitely within hours of Carr’s remarks.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told reporters that Cruz “is absolutely right” in his criticism of Carr’s comments.
“This is just unacceptable behavior,” said Tillis, who announced over the summer that he won’t seek re-election next year.
Cruz went on to say Friday “I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said,” but likened Carr’s comments about Disney taking the easy way or the hard way to a classic mob movie.
“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,” Cruz said.
“And so again, I like Brendan Carr, but we should not be in this business. We should denounce it. It’s fine to say what Jimmy Kimmel said was deplorable, it was disgraceful, and he should be off air, but we shouldn’t be threatening government power to force him off air. That’s a real mistake,” Cruz said.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cruz and Tillis’ remarks.
Trump has repeatedly praised Carr and his actions, and suggested to reporters Thursday that he thinks the FCC chair should go even further. He said TV broadcasters mostly give him negative coverage, and “I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr.”
Other Republicans have spoken out in support of Carr, including Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
“I think the FCC was raising questions about what these broadcast entities, you know, are doing with their licenses. They’re well within their bounds to do that,” Roy said Thursday. “And the First Amendment needs to be absolutely guarded and protected and but again, we do a lot of thing with FCC licenses. We don’t let you say anything on broadcast. You know, we have, you know, some constraints there, and that’s appropriate.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., portrayed the suspension as a simple business decision for ABC.
“What I do know is that ABC is a private company, and they can make their own choices on who they want to wear their brand, so to speak. So this is a matter of ABC’s leadership,” Johnson said.
Carr has suggested there’s more to come. “We’re not done yet,” Carr told CNBC Thursday.
The assassination of Kirk, who was an advocate for the First Amendment right to free speech, has led to some Republicans to embrace a cancel culture that the party had railed against for years, with the Trump administration seeking out government employees who have made negative comments about Kirk after his death.
Vice President JD Vance earlier this week encouraged people to report “someone celebrating Charlie’s murder” and “call their employer,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi has raised the possibility of cracking down on “hate speech.”
Frank Thorp V reported from Washington, Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.