Resurfaced tweets by FCC Chair Brendan Carr — who targeted ABC’s now-suspended late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for comments Kimmel made after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — are being recirculated online in an attempt by his opponents to argue that Carr once spoke differently on the issue of free speech, satire and political criticism.
Writing in 2020 on Twitter, Carr — a lawyer and one-time FCC General Counsel — blasted censorship, specifically when it was directed at comedy and “late-night comedians” whose practice of “political satire” is a tool that “helps hold those in power accountable” — as Carr wrote in a multi-pronged post.
2) 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.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) February 21, 2020
Not surprising that it’s long been targeted for censorship.
“This isn’t a close call or a slippery slope,” Carr wrote. In an environment rife with so-called cancel culture, Carr added: “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.”
Praising the long tradition of satirizing authority and power: “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.”
(NOTE: Kimmel’s words — see below — are seen by Carr and others to have inaccurately linked Charlie Kirk’s alleged murderer to the MAGA movement. Kimmel did not say the alleged murderer was MAGA, but did say that MAGA adherents were eager to separate themselves from being associated with the shooter.)
3) This isn’t a close call or a slippery slope.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) February 21, 2020
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.
The comments at issue are from Kimmel’s Monday appearance, when he 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.”
Carr took no specific procedural action as FCC chair to oust Kimmel, though he strongly suggested action could be forthcoming, saying “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
(FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez issued a statement saying the “FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes.”)
Nexstar Media Group, the largest ABC affiliate network in the country — which will need FCC approval for an upcoming merger proposal — announced shortly after Carr’s remarks that it would preempt (i.e., not air) Kimmel’s show on its stations, a move preceding ABC’s announcement that Kimmel’s show would be “suspended indefinitely.”
In canceling Kimmel’s show, Nexstar issued a statement — referencing not just business concerns but what it called the “public interest” — that appears to be largely at odds with Carr’s assertions in 2020.
Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said: “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. Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
