By Prem Thakker\Zeteo
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The Republican official who appears to have played a role in the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night comedy show once railed against censorship against “late-night comedians” and suggested that Donald Trump was responsible for “political violence.”
After that Republican, Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr, threatened to take action against the network over comments Kimmel made earlier this week about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, ABC pulled the late-night comedian off the air “indefinitely” on Wednesday.
During his Monday monologue, 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.”
Kimmel did not explicitly say the man accused of killing Kirk, Tyler Robinson, was conservative. But many on the right condemned the comments, with Carr saying during a podcast interview, “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.” He argued that broadcasters “have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.”
Not long after Carr’s comments, Nexstar – an owner of ABC affiliate stations nationwide that is currently seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion acquisition – said that it would preempt Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future.” And not long after that, ABC announced the late-night host had been pulled off the air.
Carr’s apparent unprecedented role in getting the comedian taken off-air is a dangerous escalation in the administration’s already-rampant assault on speech. It is especially jarring when you look at the long list of times just in the past five years that he’s revered free speech, specifically comedy and satire. Take a look:
Satire is one of the ‘most important forms of free speech’
Defending a candidate who posted a lightly manipulated video from the 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates, Carr wrote in February 2020 that political satire “is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech,” and “challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion.”
He added:
“From Internet memes to late-night comedians, from cartoons to the plays and poems as old as organized government itself – Political Satire circumvents traditional gatekeepers & helps hold those in power accountable.
“Not surprising that it’s long been targeted for censorship.”
“This isn’t a close call or a slippery slope,” he continued. “Shutting down this type of political speech – especially at the urging of those targeted or threatened by its message – would represent a serious threat to our freedoms and ability to hold those in power accountable.”
‘Less speech means more power’
In January 2021, in response to Discord banning a server tied to the GameStop stock surge, Carr lamented: “Less speech means more power for established gatekeepers.”
‘Concern for the future of freedom of speech’
Speaking on Fox in February 2021 about tech companies deplatforming candidates or applications, Carr said such alleged practices “drive dissent from the public square.”
“That gives me a lot of concern about the future of freedom of speech in this country because it’s no longer just Twitter or Facebook deplatforming users; it’s spreading into the infrastructure,” he added, citing Apple’s decision at the time to pull Parler, a social media platform that was popular with conservatives, from the app store after posts inciting violence were revealed in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Responding to a New York Times article entertaining a so-called “reality czar” tasked with tackling disinformation and domestic extremism, Carr quipped that “we try to live our lives in a way that we never go full Orwell, but apparently that may not be a constraint anymore.”
‘Chilling…attack on free speech’
In May 2021, Carr slammed a Maryland Democratic official’s attempts to have the FCC take action against a local news outlet for “the tone” and “frequency” of stories about her. “This is a chilling and direct attack on free speech and journalist freedom,” Carr said. “It’s part of a surge in calls for the FCC to silence speech that politicians don’t like,” adding that no journalist should have such complaints “hanging over their newsroom.”
‘Censorship imposes far greater costs on society’
In May 2022, Carr quoted Biden lauding satire during the White House Correspondents Dinner, echoing his own refrain in 2020 about satire. “President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.”
Carr later added: “Censorship imposes far greater costs on society than having to tolerate the existence of ideas you don’t like.”
‘Censorship is’ a threat
In November 2022, Carr noted that “Free speech is not a threat to democracy—censorship is.”
‘Authoritarian’s dream’
In December 2023, Carr said that free speech is the “counterweight–it is the check on government control.”
“That is why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.”
(In August 2024, Carr echoed the same phrase, adding that “there’s a straight line from the soap box to the ballot box. You retain freedom at both or neither.”)
First Amendment protects ‘River to the Sea’ chant
In May 2024, Carr visited Columbia University’s campus to thank the police for their work in tamping down on student protests. Still, while there, he hailed First Amendment protections, saying that, thanks to them, people can “express their political opinions as vile as they may be.”
He added:
“Standing here, people are making that ‘from the river to the sea’ chant, and the First Amendment protects all of that. But there’s also a line that can be crossed. So when people engage in violent conduct, including storming buildings and barricading in buildings, that’s not conduct that’s protected by the First Amendment.”
Trump ‘responsible’ for ‘political violence’
Trump first appointed Carr to the FCC in 2017. While still serving as a commissioner, Carr wrote the FCC chapter of Project 2025. In it, he wrote how the commission should “promote freedom of speech” and protect “the digital town square” from the media landscape. The sentiment was generally in line with the pro-speech stance he took throughout the Biden administration and beyond.
After Trump named Carr chair, he immediately reinstated complaints against CBS, NBC, and ABC – outlets whose coverage Trump did not like. In doing so, Carr flouted both his own comments on how journalists should not have such complaints “hanging over their newsroom,” and remarks by previous FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who said, “This agency should not be the president’s speech police and this agency shouldn’t be journalism’s censor-in-chief.”
In October 2024, Trump sued CBS, accusing the network of favorably editing an interview with Kamala Harris. In July, Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit for $16 million. Just weeks later, Carr greenlit an $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger.
Now, the suspension of Kimmel comes as the Trump administration and its allies ramp up their assault on free speech. What began as an attack on pro-Palestine and anti-war speech, and then fused into a campaign to intimidate and target immigrants, has now seemed to metastasize into a broad assault targeting anyone who may speak unfavorably of Charlie Kirk. The administration and its allies have used the notion that people are celebrating “political violence” as a cudgel to carry out the speech-chilling campaign.
Carr himself has, in the past, used his own free speech to condemn his now-boss.
Not long after the January 6 insurrection, Carr said that “political violence is completely unacceptable.”
“It’s clear to me President Trump bears responsibility.”
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