By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican Senator Rand Paul said on Sunday that threats by Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr against Disney and local broadcasters for airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live” were “absolutely inappropriate.”
Television network ABC, which is owned by Disney, suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show after Carr threatened investigations and regulatory action against licensed broadcasters who aired Kimmel. The owners of dozens of local TV stations affiliated with ABC said they would no longer carry the show.
Paul said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Carr had “no business weighing in on this.” He said people could be fired for making inappropriate comments but the government should not pressure companies to take action.
“The government’s got no business in it. And the FCC was wrong to weigh in. And I’ll fight any attempt by the government to get involved with speech,” Paul said.
On Friday, Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz, a Republican, said Carr’s threat to fine broadcasters or pull their licenses over the content of their shows was dangerous.
“I got to say that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas’,” Cruz said, evoking the Martin Scorsese gangster movie. “That’s right out of a Mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it’.”
Late on Friday, Republican Senator Dave McCormick said on X he agreed with Cruz’s concerns. “Good riddance to Jimmy Kimmel and his disgusting rhetoric. Ted also raises important concerns about the comments of the FCC chairman,” McCormick said.
Democratic leaders in Congress have called for Carr to resign and demanded an inspector general’s investigation and public hearings.
Cruz, chair of the Senate’s commerce oversight committee, said Carr’s comments were “dangerous as hell.”
Carr did responded to a request for comment on Sunday.
Trump, who appointed Carr, has cheered ABC’s decision to suspend the show and backed Carr’s comments. “He’s done nothing that’s over the line,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
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