Much to President Trump's dismay, Jimmy Kimmel returned to TV last night. In a wide-ranging monologue met with near-constant applause, Kimmel discussed the comments that got him suspended and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr's attempts to silence speech the president doesn't like.
"Brendan Carr is the most embarrassing car Republicans have embraced since this one, and that's saying something," Kimmel said, showing a photo of a Tesla Cybertruck painted with the American flag and the word "Trump" in big, gold letters.
Carr justified his threats to Disney by saying the FCC has to uphold the public interest standard applied to broadcasters with licenses to use the public airwaves. Carr's stance is the opposite held by previous FCC chairs from both major parties, who said the FCC should uphold the free speech rights of broadcasters.
Kimmel pointed out that broadcast TV isn't the only content distributed over networks that use radio spectrum. "Should the government be allowed to regulate which podcasts the cell phone companies and Wi-Fi providers are allowed to let you download to make sure they serve the public interest?" Kimmel said last night. "You think that sounds crazy? Ten years ago, this sounded crazy," he added, referring to Carr threatening ABC owner Disney.
Carr went on a right-wing commentator's podcast last week and said, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," and that Disney must "take action" on Kimmel "or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead." Carr urged TV station owners to refuse to air Kimmel and said that stations airing Kimmel could lose their licenses.
Jimmy Kimmel is back!
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Carr unconvincingly claimed that he never threatened ABC station licenses and that his remarks were distorted by Democrats. But several prominent Republicans agreed that the chairman went too far. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that Carr's threat to Disney was "right outta Goodfellas."