by Natalia Mittelstadt
President Trump is suggesting the Federal Communications Commission revoke broadcast network licenses over their coverage of him – following agency Commissioner Brendan Carr getting involved with Disney’s ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel’s show after the late-night host made controversial comments related to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
“I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me,” Trump said Thursday to reporters aboard Air Force One, the Washington Examiner reported. “They’re getting a license. I would think, maybe, their license should be taken away.”
Trump added that the decision “will be up to Brendan Carr,” the Republican chairman of the FCC.
“When you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump,” the president said. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
Trump’s comments follow Carr’s warning that his agency could take action against ABC affiliates for airing Kimmel’s remarks after Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination.
“In some quarters, there’s a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature … of one of the most significant newsworthy public interest acts that we’ve seen in a long time in what appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or a Republican-motivated person,” Carr told host Benny Johnson, according to Fox News.
“And I’ve been very clear from the moment that I have become chairman of the FCC, I want to reinvigorate the public interest. And what people don’t understand is that the broadcasters, and you’ve gotten this right, are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication. They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr added.
During a “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” monologue on Monday, Kimmel said that the “MAGA gang” was trying to politically benefit from the murder of Kirk.
“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 and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
Kirk, 31, was assassinated last week while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University by alleged shooter Tyler Robinson, 22, whose mother told police that he “had started to lean more to the left,” according to a charging document.
ABC said Wednesday that it was indefinitely suspending “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following the host’s comments about the assassination of Kirk.
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “FCC Logo” by jeanbaptisteparis. CC BY-SA 2.0.
