Democratic lawmakers are urging Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr to resign, accusing him of a “corrupt abuse of power” following the decision by Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely. The suspension was announced after Kimmel faced conservative backlash for comments he made regarding the death of Republican activist Charlie Kirk.
House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, issued a statement emphasizing that “Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s war on the First Amendment is blatantly inconsistent with American values,” and called for media companies, such as ABC, to clarify their decisions.
Democrats currently hold a minority status in both the House and Senate, limiting their ability to compel Carr’s resignation. The suspension came after Carr indicated he would take action against Kimmel, ABC, and Disney. The FCC is responsible for granting licenses to broadcasters like ABC and its affiliates.
In their statement, Democrats criticized Carr for pressuring ABC, claiming he has “disgraced the office he holds by bullying” the network into submission to the Trump administration’s agenda. Carr responded via a post on social media platform X, expressing approval that “broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked, “Nothing he said justifies what they did,” adding, “If you look at what the president says, maybe he should be silenced.” Steny Hoyer, Maryland Representative and the top Democrat on the subcommittee funding the FCC, criticized the agency for overstepping its authority in the case involving Kimmel, stating, “It’s a terrible place we are in where broadcasters and others are being subjected to the power of government to make decisions that the government wants to take.”
Kimmel, known as a prominent critic of Trump, was removed from the airwaves after suggesting that Republicans were exploiting Kirk’s death to launch criticisms against their opponents. In a monologue on September 15, he stated, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
