Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has agreed to testify before a Senate panel after receiving backlash from both sides of the political aisle over his perceived role in comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension from late-night television, according to reports.
Semafor first reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, that Carr would testify before the Senate Commerce Committee in November. A committee spokesperson later confirmed the reporting to NBC News.
An exact date for the hearing and what will be discussed has yet to be revealed.
Carr got himself into some hot water last month after he put pressure on broadcasters to “take action” against Kimmel following comments he made in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Shortly after Carr made those comments, ABC suspended Kimmel’s show, but he was put back on the air in a matter of days.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, was among some Republicans who joined Democrats in condemning what they saw as a violation of free speech protections.
“He says, ‘We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way,’” the senator said of Carr’s comments. “That’s right out of Goodfellas. That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar, going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”
The controversy started when Kimmel said in a September 15 monologue, “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
Kirk was fatally shot at an event on a Utah college campus on September 10. Tyler Robinson, 22, who officials said had a “leftist” ideology, is accused of killing the 31-year-old.
Two days later, Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr has denied that he threatened broadcasters.
“There was no threat made or suggested that if Jimmy Kimmel didn’t get fired, that someone was going to lose their license,” Carr told reporters Tuesday, per Deadline. “I’ve seen that there’s a lot of Democrats that are writing letters saying that is what happened, and it simply didn’t.”
President Donald Trump had celebrated the suspension of Kimmel’s show, calling it “great news for America,” and threatened to “test ABC” after the broadcaster allowed the comedian to return.
Kimmel choked up as he told his audience during his first night back from suspension on September 23 that it was “never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
