Rand Paul slams FCC chair’s Kimmel comments as ‘absolutely inappropriate’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said it was “absolutely inappropriate” for Federal Communications Chair (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr to threaten to “take action” against ABC over comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.
“Absolutely inappropriate. Brendan Carr has got no business weighing in on this,” Paul said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” when asked if Carr’s remarks were appropriate.
The libertarian-leaning senator said the government should stay out of the issue altogether but stipulated that ABC, as Kimmel’s employer, has the right to take punitive action against him if, hypothetically, Kimmel’s conduct violated his contract.
“People have to also realize that despicable comments — you have the right to say them, but you don’t have the right to employment,” Paul told NBC News’s Kristen Welker.
“Virtually everybody employed, probably including yourself, has a code of conduct in your contract that you have to adhere here to. NFL players have it. Major League Baseball players have it. And if you don’t adhere to that conduct, if you say things that are reprehensible or that glorify someone’s death or make fun of it in some way, yeah, you can be fired,” Paul said.
“So the FCC should have nothing to do with it,” he continued. “But I do think that, you know, a couple of the networks pulled out. Sinclair pulled out. They were disgusted by the comments. That’s their right. You can be fired for not being popular also. I mean, this is television, for goodness’ sake. You have to sell sponsorships. You have to sell commercials. And if you’re losing money, you can be fired.”
“But the government’s got no business in it. And the FCC was wrong to weigh in,” he added. “And I’ll fight any attempt by the government to get involved with speech, I will fight.”
Disney and ABC suspended Kimmel’s show indefinitely Wednesday after he said on his Monday show that the country “hit some new lows over the weekend” when the “MAGA gang desperately tried to characterize this kid who killed Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
Carr joined an interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson after Kimmel’s Monday night appearance, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr continued.
Nexstar Media Group announced Wednesday that its affiliate stations would preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live” because of the remarks. ABC followed suit with the suspension shortly after.
Nexstar owns The Hill, NewsNation and the CW.
Nexstar said in a statement that it “strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.”