The veteran late-night comedian made several remarks about the reaction to the conservative influencer’s assassination, and his show was suspended.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr responded to ABC and affiliate stations’ removal of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after the comedian made remarks about Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination last week.
ABC suspended Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely beginning Sept. 17 after comments he made about Kirk’s killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say they would not air the show and prompted remarks from a top federal regulator.
The veteran comedian made several remarks about the reaction to the conservative commentator’s assassination on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during his Monday and Tuesday shows, including that 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.”
In an interview on Thursday with CNBC, Carr said that Kimmel may have appeared to “mislead” the American public with the remark.
“The issue that arose here, where lots and lots of people were upset, was not a joke,” Carr added.
“It was appearing to directly mislead the American public about a significant fact … probably one of the most significant political events we’ve had in a long time, certainly the most significant political assassination we’ve seen in a long time.”
Carr told Fox News the night before that under the FCC’s jurisdiction, over-the-air networks such as ABC, NBC, or CBS operate under a license that requires them “to operate in the public interest.”
“Broadcasters are different than any other form of communication,” Carr said, adding that affiliate groups such as Sinclair and Nexstar took action against Kimmel’s show because they were “standing up to serve the interests of their community.”
“Over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation,” Carr told Fox News. “I don’t think we’re better off as a country for it.”
Carr added: “This action today by Nexstar and Sinclair, frankly, it is unprecedented. I can’t imagine another time when we’ve had local broadcasters tell, what we call a national programmer like Disney, that your content no longer meets the needs and the values of our community.”
In a post on X, Carr wrote, “Broadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the public interest, including their local communities’ values.”
Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to operate in the public interest—that includes serving the needs of their local communities.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) September 18, 2025
And broadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the…
