A well-known senator who supports President Donald Trump has blasted a top administration official as a “mafioso” for the Jimmy Kimmel firing, the New York Post reported.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) slammed Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr for Carr’s attacks on Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel’s ABC show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was placed on indefinite hiatus after the host was ripped for making a derogatory comment about assassinated conservative icon Charlie Kirk.
Just hours before Kimmel’s show was yanked, Carr had suggested that there was a “strong case” for the FCC to go after ABC and its parent company, Disney.
Speaking on his “Verdict With Ted Cruz” podcast, the senator quoted Carr, saying, “He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.’”
“And I gotta say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas’,” Cruz said, referring to the iconic mob film. “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 acknowledged that he was no fan of Kimmel’s and said he was “thrilled” that the late-night host was yanked from the airwaves.
“But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying we don’t say what you the media have said, 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.
Trump has suggested that networks whose programming is hyper-critical of him should have their FCC licenses revoked.
Kirk was killed by an assassin’s bullet on Sept. 10 during an outdoor rally.
In his opening monologue five days later, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang 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 has been charged in the Kirk killing.