US Senator Ted Cruz has accused Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr of acting like a “mafioso” in the suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Cruz said Carr’s threat to ABC over Kimmel’s monologue about slain conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was “dangerous as hell”. Other Republicans in Congress have been more muted in their criticism of the FCC’s handling of the situation.
The controversy started when Kimmel appeared to suggest in his monologue on Monday night that the alleged gunman charged with murdering Kirk was a Maga Republican, although authorities in Utah have said the suspect was “indoctrinated with leftist ideology”. Before ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel indefinitely, Carr said there would be consequences if Kimmel stayed on air. The FCC is in charge of granting broadcast licenses to networks such as ABC, NBC and CBS.
Cruz emphasized on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz that he hated what Kimmel said about Kirk and he is “thrilled that he was fired”. He also said Carr was “a good guy” but warned that if the government gets into the business of bans and regulating what the media says “that will end up bad for conservatives”. President Donald Trump defended Carr and said he disagreed with Cruz’s stance, while another Republican Senator, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, supported Cruz’s criticism of Carr.
Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas sounded a note of caution and said the conservative position is that free speech should be protected. Kimmel has not publicly commented about his suspension, but his late-night colleagues responded on Thursday with a show of solidarity. On Thursday, the Senate passed a resolution to designate 14 October, Kirk’s birthday, a day of remembrance for him. Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives approved the resolution, but nearly 100 Democrats opposed it. In Sacramento, California, police said three shots were fired on Friday afternoon into a window of an ABC10 building while people were inside, but no one was injured. It is not clear if the shooting was a targeted attack or an accidental discharge of a weapon.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kwzgrwdd0o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
