By Rounak Bagchi

Copyright timesnownews

The head of the US broadcast regulator has accused late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel of misleading the public over comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said Kimmel’s remarks during a monologue last week were “not a joke” but appeared to “directly mislead the American public about a significant fact.” Speaking on CNBC on Thursday, Carr said: “Jimmy Kimmel is not Johnny Carson. It was not making fun of or pillorying me or the administration or the president. It was appearing to directly mislead the American public about a significant fact” surrounding the assassination. On Wednesday, Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely, shortly after Nexstar Media Group, which owns dozens of ABC affiliates, announced it would no longer air the programme. Nexstar said the comments were “offensive and insensitive.” Kimmel, a frequent critic of US President Donald Trump, had accused Republicans of exploiting Kirk’s death. Also Read: What Is The Real Reason Behind Jimmy Kimmel’s Firing? Nexstar-Tegna Merger And FCC Threat Explained “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” he said on September 15. Carr insisted that the FCC was not seeking to censor Trump’s opponents but argued that licensed broadcasters had greater obligations than online outlets. “Broadcast is different,” he told CNBC. “Broadcast TV is different. We’re on a cable show right now. You don’t have an FCC licence. You don’t have an obligation to serve the public interest. Podcasts don’t either. But if you have a broadcast TV licence, that means you have something very few people have … and it comes with an obligation to serve the public interest.” Carr said trust in traditional media had fallen dramatically. “Gas station sushi probably pulls better in terms of trust than the legacy broadcast media,” he remarked. Speaking separately on a podcast with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Carr said he believed there was a strong case for punishing Kimmel, ABC and Disney. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.